Neighbourhoods and Communes of Buenos Aires

The city of Buenos Aires is divided in 48 "barrios" or neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods are grouped into "comunas" or communes, which are "units of decentralized political and administrative management governed by designated residents" [http://www.legislatura.gov.ar/1inicio/050901/comunas.htm]

List of neighbourhoods

In alphabetical order, with the corresponding population (according to 2001 Census)
# Agronomía (35,000)
# Almagro (139,000)
# Balvanera (152,000)
# Barracas (77,000)
# Belgrano (139,000)
# Boedo (49,000)
# Caballito (183,000)
# Chacarita (27,000)
# Coghlan (19,000)
# Colegiales (57,000)
# Constitución (46,000)
# Flores (150,000)
# Floresta (39,000)
# La Boca (46,000)
# La Paternal (20,000)
# Liniers (44,000)
# Mataderos (65,000)
# Monte Castro (35,000)
# Montserrat (44,000)
# Nueva Pompeya (63,000)
# Núñez (53,000)
# Palermo (252,000)
# Parque Avellaneda (54,000)
# Parque Chacabuco (39,000)
# Parque Chas (included in Agronomía in 2001, reinstated in 2005)
# Parque Patricios (41,000)
# Puerto Madero (7,000+)
# Recoleta (189,000)
# Retiro (45,000)
# Saavedra (52,000)
# San Cristóbal (50,000)
# San Nicolás (33,000)
# San Telmo (26,000)
# Vélez Sársfield (36,000)
# Versalles (14,000)
# Villa Crespo (90,000)
# Villa del Parque (59,000)
# Villa Devoto (71,000)
# Villa Lugano (114,000)
# Villa Luro (33,000)
# Villa Mitre (36,000)
# Villa Ortúzar (23,000)
# Villa Pueyrredón (40,000)
# Villa Real (14,000)
# Villa Riachuelo (15,000)
# Villa Santa Rita (34,000)
# Villa Soldati (41,000)
# Villa Urquiza (89,000)

The city of Buenos Aires (excluding the outskirts that form Greater Buenos Aires), had about 2,700,000 inhabitants by 2001.

Communes

Communes are parts of the city. Each commune, or "comuna", encompasses one or more neighbourhoods ("barrios"), which are represented in the respective community centres for administrative purposes.

Communes are serially numbered. The list below lists all communes and their constituent neighbourhoods in numerical order:

# Puerto Madero, San Nicolás, Retiro, Monserrat, San Telmo, and Constitución
# Recoleta
# Balvanera and San Cristóbal
# La Boca, Barracas, Parque Patricios, and Nueva Pompeya
# Almagro and Boedo
# Caballito
# Flores and Parque Chacabuco
# Villa Soldati, Villa Lugano, and Villa Riachuelo
# Parque Avellaneda, Mataderos, and Liniers
# Villa Luro, Vélez Sársfield, Floresta, Monte Castro, Villa Real, and Versalles
# Villa Devoto, Villa del Parque, Villa Santa Rita, and Villa General Mitre
# Villa Pueyrredón, Villa Urquiza, Coghlan, and Saavedra
# Nuñez, Belgrano, and Colegiales
# Palermo
# Villa Ortúzar, Chacarita, Villa Crespo, La Paternal, and Agronomía

Informal barrio names

The name Barrio Norte is sometimes used to refer to the area around Santa Fe avenue, encompassing parts of Retiro, Recoleta, Palermo, and (sometimes) Balvanera.

The name Barrio Sur was used in the past to refer to the southern neighborhoods. It is no longer used in this sense, but the usage survives in the lyrics of the tango Sur which refer to specific places in Nueva Pompeya, Boedo, and Parque Patricios.

"Abasto" is sometimes used to refer to the zone around the Abasto market (now shopping mall). It encompasses north-western Balvanera and north-eastern Almagro.

"Congreso" is the area around Congress square, encompassing southeastern Balvanera, northern San Cristóbal and western Montserrat.

"Catalinas Norte" is used to name the high-rise district next to Retiro transportation center and to the financial district, while "Catalinas Sur" is used (quite rarely) for the lowlands of San Telmo (notably the area around Cosme Argerich hospital).

Palermo is the largest barrio and has many subdivisions; Palermo Viejo is the name usually given to the area between Coronel Diaz, Cordoba, Scalabrini Ortiz and Santa Fe Avenues; Palermo SoHo, the city's fashion district, refers to Plaza Julio Cortázar and its surroundings; Palermo Hollywood, across Juan B. Justo Avenue, is a distinctive quarter located in the northernmost side of the barrio where some radio stations, TV networks, 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 some nightclubs. Palermo Queens is used sometimes to refer to the parts of Villa Crespo close to Palermo Viejo.

"Parque Centenario" is sometimes used to refer to the area around "Centenario" park, at the limit of Almagro, Caballito, and Villa Crespo.

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.

External links

* [http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/com_social/mapasint/barrios/index.php?id=1&subid=0 Buenos Aires Barrios Maps] (Spanish)
* [http://www.cedom.gov.ar/es/ciudad/barrios/ Barrios History] Government of the Buenos Aires city (Spanish)
* [http://www.legislatura.gov.ar/1inicio/050901/comunas.htm Division into Comunas]