Expansión urbana en ciudades intermedias de crecimiento demográfico bajo: el caso de Bahía Blanca, Argentina

Abstract

In recent decades there have been processes of extension of the urban surface in a dispersed and low density manner in the periphery of intermediate cities, which need to be explained from the particularity of their causes and forms of occupation, as well as by the intervening actors and their relationships in the process of production and morphological and functional transformation of this space. In this context, the process of expansion in some cities where population growth is low is striking. It has been selected the case of Bahía Blanca (291 thousand inhabitants), an important service center and a regional node ofthe southwest of the Province of Buenos Aires. Despite registering a very moderate population increase, this city evidences a notable expansion of the urbanized area in the periphery as well as a verticalization of the central area. The present work includes the first advances in the formulation of the PhD thesis project in Urban Studies at the National University of General Sarmiento.