Buenos Aires, the autonomous city and capital of Argentina, is composed of 48 neighbourhoods (locally known as ). Since 2008, the city is also legally divided into communes (), each one including one or more . Among the most visited and populated are Palermo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero, Belgrano, San Telmo, La Boca, Monserrat and Caballito. Sectors of the city are also traditionally known as neighbourhoods by the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, but not officially by the authorities of the city; some examples are Barrio Chino, Barrio Norte and the Microcentro.
List of neighbourhoods In alphabetical order, with the corresponding population and the commune they are grouped in.
Name Area Population Commune Density km2 per km2 per Agronomía 13,963 15 Almagro 128,206 5 Balvanera 137,521 3 Barracas 73,377 4 Belgrano 126,816 13 Boedo 45,563 5 Caballito 170,309 6 Chacarita 25,778 15 Coghlan 18,021 12 Colegiales 52,391 13 Constitución 41,894 1 Flores 142,695 7 Floresta 37,247 10 La Boca 43,413 4 La Paternal 19,058 15 Liniers 42,083 9 Mataderos 62,206 9 Monserrat 39,175 1 Monte Castro 32,782 10 Nueva Pompeya 60,465 4 Núñez 49,019 13 Palermo 225,245 14 Parque Avellaneda 51,678 9 Parque Chacabuco 54,638 7 Parque Chas 18,926 15 Parque Patricios 37,791 4 Puerto Madero 6,629 1 Recoleta 165,494 2 Retiro 38,635 1 Saavedra 48,956 12 San Cristóbal 46,494 3 San Nicolás 28,667 1 San Telmo 23,198 1 Vélez Sársfield 34,084 10 Versalles 13,556 10 Villa Crespo 83,646 15 Villa del Parque 55,502 11 Villa Devoto 67,712 11 Villa General Mitre 34,204 11 Villa Lugano 108,170 8 Villa Luro 31,859 10 Villa Ortúzar 21,256 15 Villa Pueyrredón 38,558 12 Villa Real 13,681 10 Villa Riachuelo 13,995 8 Villa Santa Rita 32,248 11 Villa Soldati 39,477 8 Villa Urquiza 85,587 12
Informal neighbourhood names The name Barrio Norte refers to the area around Avenida Santa Fe, encompassing parts of Retiro, Recoleta, and Palermo.
The name Barrio Sur was used in the past to encompass the southern neighbourhoods. This name has mostly fallen out of use, but survives in the lyrics of the tango Sur, which refer to specific places in Nueva Pompeya and Boedo, and in the short story "The South" by Jorge Luis Borges, where the conventional wisdom is recalled that "the South begins when crossing Rivadavia Avenue".
Abasto is sometimes used to refer to the zone around the Abasto market (now a shopping mall), many times in association with the life of singer Carlos Gardel. It encompasses north-western Balvanera and north-eastern Almagro.
Congreso is the area around Congress square, encompassing southeastern Balvanera, northern San Cristóbal and western Monserrat.
Catalinas Norte is the high-rise district next to Retiro transportation center and to the financial district, while Catalinas Sur is used (quite rarely) for the lowlands south of San Telmo (notably the area around Cosme Argerich hospital and at the bottom of Parque Lezama).
Palermo is the largest by area and has several informal subdivisions; Palermo Viejo is the name usually given to the area between Coronel Díaz, Córdoba, Scalabrini Ortíz and Güemes; Palermo Chico and Barrio Parque, the most upmarket part of Palermo, is on Palermo's north-eastern edge, includes the National Museum of Decorative Arts and the Museum of Latin American Art, and many of the wealthy and famous old homes some now used as Ambassador's residences; Palermo Soho, the city's fashion district, refers to Plaza Julio Cortázar and its surroundings; Palermo Hollywood is a distinctive quarter located in the northern edge of the where radio and television stations, movie producers and workshops have settled in the late 1990s. Las Cañitas refers to a few blocks around the Campo Argentino de Polo, crowded with trendy bars, fancy restaurants and nightclubs. Palermo Queens is used sometimes to refer to the parts of Villa Crespo close to Palermo Viejo. Other than Palermo Viejo and Palermo Chico, these names are of recent vintage (1990s and later) and are related to the gentrification process that Palermo and its peripheral areas are undergoing.
Parque Centenario is sometimes used to refer to the area around Centenario park, at the limit of Almagro, Caballito, and Villa Crespo.
The southern parts of Flores were reclaimed from swampland, and the names Bajo Flores and Bañado de Flores are used for these areas.
Within Belgrano, there are Belgrano "C" and "R" (widely and incorrectly believed to signify "commercial" and "residential", respectively) and Bajo Belgrano ("Belgrano lowlands"), which since the late 1990s includes a small Chinatown.
A tango song named "Cien barrios porteños" (), sung by Alberto Castillo, is sometimes invoked (informally) to support the claim that there are indeed a hundred neighbourhoods in the city. This number may be reached by including some suburbs in the tally.
References
External links
Barrios History Government of the Buenos Aires city (Spanish)