Urbanization and the consumption of fertile land and other ecological changes: the case of Buenos Aires

Abstract

This paper describes the conflict between agriculture and urban development in the Pampa Ondulada, the eco-region where the city of Buenos Aires is located and which is one of the world’s richest and most productive agricultural areas. It describes and analyzes the ecological changes brought about by urban expansion in peri-urban and rural areas between 1869 and 1991 and the form that these have taken. It also includes an analysis of the soil types where this expansion has taken place. The paper ends with a discussion of the lack of control over the continued expansion of the urban agglomeration including that caused by the closed settlements now favoured by middle and upper-income groups and the speculative parcelling of land in advance of its development.