Renovation, urban extractivism and environmental conflict in the northern riverside area of Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article analyzes a case of urban renewal in the city of Buenos Aires that has been led by the public sector and the real estate sector within an urban entrepreneurial regime since 2004. It also studies the social mobilization that arose in opposition to it, as environmental issues became central to the conflict. For those involved in forging a new model of urban development, nature entails an opportunity to generate surplus value. Meanwhile, other collective actors dispute the installation of these urban developments, pointing out their environmental impact and decrying the imposition of a commercial logic in their territory. Based on an ethnographic approach, this article aims to contribute to a larger debate on urban extractivism and people’s right to access green and public spaces, which are becoming more and more scarce.