Limites et défis de la gouvernance urbaine en Amérique latine : une analyse à partir de la théorie du régime urbain et de l'opération commerciale d'Alto Palermo à Buenos Aires / Limits and challenges of urban governance in Latin America : an analysis based on the theory of urban regimes and the Alto Palermo shopping centre at Buenos Aires

Abstract

The concept of 'urban governance' seems to be central in the formulation of urban policy in most 'under developed' metropolises since the end of the 1980s, especially due to the influence of the World Bank. This paper examines this notion by confronting the theory of urban regimes with the analysis of a case of urban renovation based on a shopping centre in Buenos Aires. The aim is to demonstrate the theory's limits in a local context. In the Argentine federal capital, the shopping centre represented a model example of urban development, enabling experiments to be undertaken on the changing roles in the city's productive activities resulting from the withdrawal of the state. The paper studies the interactions between different urban actors in the creation of the shopping centre, and in the transformation of its environment as well as the consequences for the city.