Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

comprising the

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and the adjacent 24 '' partidos'' (districts) in the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. Thus, it does not constitute a single administrative unit. The

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

spreads south, west and north of Buenos Aires city. To the east, the River Plate serves as a natural boundary.

Urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

, especially between 1945 and 1980, created a vast metropolitan area of over 3,800 km² (1,500 mi²) – or 19 times the area of Buenos Aires proper. The 24 suburban ''partidos'' (counties) grew more than sixfold in population between the 1947 and 2022 censuses – or nearly 2.5% annually, compared to 1.4% for the nation as a whole. While annual growth for the suburban area slowed to 0.8% between 2010 and 2022, the 14 million inhabitants in the entire 30-county area plus the City of Buenos Aires account for a third of the total population of Argentina and generate nearly half (48%) of the country's GDP. AMBA 2022 population pyramid

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:12000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:500 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(5,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1914 from:0 till:458 text:458217 bar:1947 from:0 till:1741 text:1741338 bar:1960 from:0 till:3772 text:3772411 bar:1970 from:0 till:5380 text:5380447 bar:1980 from:0 till:6843 text:6843201 bar:1991 from:0 till:7953 text:7952624 bar:2001 from:0 till:8684 text:8684437 bar:2010 from:0 till:9917 text:9916715 bar:2022 from:0 till:10865 text:10865182 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:S text:"Source: INDEC"

History

The term ''Gran Buenos Aires'' ("Greater Buenos Aires") was first officially used in 1948, when Domingo Mercante, the

Governor of Buenos Aires Province The Governor of Buenos Aires Province () is a citizen of the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, holding the office of governor for the corresponding period. The governor is elected alongside a vice-governor. Currently the governor of Buenos Ai ...

, signed a bill delineating as such an area covering 14 municipalities surrounding the City of Buenos Aires. The term is also related to other expressions that are not necessarily well defined: the "Buenos Aires' conurbation" (''Conurbano Bonaerense''), the "Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration" (''Aglomerado Gran Buenos Aires''), and the "Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires" (''Área Metropolitana Buenos Aires'', AMBA). In colloquial speech, people refer to the "Buenos Aires' conurbation" as the set of municipalities that surround the City of Buenos Aires and which are mostly populated by working-class or middle-class communities.

Definition

The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) has defined Greater Buenos Aires. There are three main groups within the Buenos Aires conurbation. The first two groups (24 '' partidos'') comprise the traditional conurbation, or the "conurbation proper", while the third group of six ''partidos'' is in the process of becoming fully integrated with the rest. ;Fourteen fully urbanized ''partidos'' *

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater B ...

* General San Martín * Hurlingham * Ituzaingó *

José C. Paz José Clemente Paz (2 October 1842 – 10 March 1912) was an Argentina, Argentine politician, diplomat and journalist, founder of ''La Prensa (Buenos Aires), La Prensa''. Life Paz was born in Buenos Aires and started his educati ...

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

Lomas de Zamora Lomas de Zamora is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located south of the City of Buenos Aires and within the metropolitan area of Greater Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Lomas de Zamora Partido and has a population of 111,897 ...

* Malvinas Argentinas * Morón *

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

* San Isidro * San Miguel * Tres de Febrero * Vicente López ;Ten ''partidos'' partially urbanized *

Almirante Brown William Brown (also known in Spanish as Guillermo Brown or ''Almirante'' Brown) (22 June 1777 – 3 March 1857) was an Irish sailor, merchant, and naval commander who served in the Argentine Navy during the wars of the early 19th century. Brown ...

Berazategui Berazategui is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, located to the south-east of Quilmes. It is the head town of the Berazategui Partido Berazategui is a Partidos of Buenos Aires, partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. With an ar ...

Esteban Echeverría José Esteban Antonio Echeverría (2 September 1805 – 19 January 1851) was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, cultural promoter, and liberal activist who played a significant role in the development of Argentine literature, not only thro ...

* Ezeiza * Florencio Varela *

La Matanza ( Spanish for 'The Massacre') refers to a communist- Indigenous rebellion that took place in El Salvador between 22 and 25 January 1932. After the revolt was suppressed, it was followed by large-scale government killings in western El Salv ...

* Merlo *

Moreno Moreno may refer to: Places Argentina * Moreno (Buenos Aires Metro), a station on Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro *Moreno, Buenos Aires, a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina * Moreno Department, a depatnent of Santiago del Estero Province, ...

* San Fernando * Tigre ;Six ''partidos'' not yet conurbated As urbanization continues and the conurbation grows, six additional partially urbanized ''partidos'' (totaling 1,062,991 population of as the 2022 census) are now fully connected with the

: * Escobar (256,449) *

General Rodríguez General Rodríguez is a city in the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county ...

(143,211) *

Marcos Paz Marcos Paz (1813 – January 2, 1868) was Governor of Córdoba and Tucumán Provinces, an Argentine Senator, and Vice President of Argentina from October 12, 1862, until his death in 1868. Biography Marcos Paz was born to a prominent Tu ...

(67,154) * Pilar (395,072) * Presidente Perón (102,128) * San Vicente (98,977)

List of cities

INDEC est

Gallery

File:Centro_de_Berazategui.JPG, Berazategui File:Ciudad Evita.JPG, Ciudad Evita (La Matanza Partido) File:Peatonal Florencio Varela 1.jpg, Florencio Varela File:Viacivitanovamarche.JPG, General San Martín File:Iglesia Inmaculada concepción....jpg, Monte Grande (Esteban Echeverría Partido) File:Provincia de Buenos Aires - Vicente López - Avenida Maipú.jpg, Olivos (Vicente López Partido) File:Quilmes001bis.jpg, Quilmes File:Parque junto al Museo de Arte Tigre.jpg, Tigre File:Ruta_Panamericana_Buenos Aires_Florida.jpg, Pan-American Expressway, north of Buenos Aires

History

Definition

List of cities

Gallery

References

Further reading