Quality of Life in Argentina: Maps, Indexes and Regional Analysis from 2010 (The Latin American Studies Book Series) 3031482115, 9783031482113

Table of contents :
Introduction
Contents
Editors and Contributors
1 Argentine Patagonia
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Theoretical-Methodological-Grounds
1.2.1 Methodological Usefulness of the Concept of Areas of Relative Homogeneity (Áreas de Homogeneidad Relativa, AHR, in Spanish) and Its Difference with the Regional Approach
1.3 Areas of Relative Homogeneity
1.4 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with a High Level of Quality of Life and Strong Territorial Integration
1.4.1 Alto Valle and Valle Medio of the Negro River
1.4.2 Andean Patagonia
1.4.3 Atlantic Ocean: The Valdés Peninsula and the Lower Valley of the Chubut River (VIRCh)
1.4.4 San Jorge Gulf Open to the Atlantic Ocean
1.4.5 Tierra del Fuego
1.5 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with Standard and High Levels of Quality of Life in Areas of Diverse Economic Activities and Territorial Integration
1.5.1 South Atlantic: Bahía Grande
1.5.2 Northeast of Río Negro Province
1.5.3 Andean South Occupied by Large Lakes and Glaciers
1.5.4 Northern Internal Hydrocarbon Area
1.5.5 The Interior of Neuquén Province
1.5.6 Main-Road Towns: South Line of Río Negro and North of Chubut
1.6 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with a Regional Disarticulation and Adverse Indicators of Quality of Life Index
1.6.1 Main Plateaus of Patagonia
1.7 Relationship Between the Regional Phenomena and the Quality of Life
References
2 The Pampean Region
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Buenos Aires: Also Known as the “First Argentine State”, It Has Had a Decisive Influence on the Rest of the National System
2.2 Córdoba and Santa Fe Provinces
2.3 Entre Ríos and La Pampa Provinces
2.4 Pampean Interregional Inequalities
2.4.1 Education Dimension
2.4.2 Health Dimension
2.4.3 Housing Dimension
2.4.4 Environmental Dimension
2.5 Quality of Life in Pampean Region
2.6 Concluding Remarks
References
3 Cuyo
3.1 Introduction
3.2 First Stage: Pre-Hispanic Settlement
3.3 Second Stage: Colonial Settlement
3.4 Third Stage: Modern Settlement
3.5 Oasis Sub-region
3.6 Puntano Axis Sub-region
3.7 Northern Mining
3.8 Southern Mining
3.9 TRAVESÍA
3.10 Valle Fértil
3.11 Serranías
3.12 Pastoril
3.13 Payunia
3.14 Education Dimension
3.15 Health Dimension
3.16 Housing Dimension
3.17 Environmental Dimension
3.17.1 Natural-Based Recreational Resources
3.17.2 Socially Constructed Recreational Resources
3.17.3 Environmental Problems
3.18 Quality of Life Index in the Region of Cuyo
3.19 Conclusions
References
4 Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Background on Quality of Life Studies in the Region
4.3 The Quality of Life in the Municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires
4.4 The Quality of Life in the Interior of the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration
4.4.1 Background Focused on Socio-Economic Status
4.4.2 Adapting the Quality of Life Index to the Micro-spatial Scale
4.4.3 Results of the Implementation of the QLI
4.5 Conclusions
References
5 Northwestern Argentina (NOA)
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Population
5.3 Changes in Regional Quality of Life in 2001–2010
5.4 Variables Explaining Changes in the NOA Quality of Life
5.5 Territorial Transformations in the NOA During the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century
5.5.1 Reprimarization and Neoextractivism
5.5.2 The Revitalization of Mining
5.5.3 The Internationalization of Tourism
5.5.4 Concentration of Population in Provincial Capitals
References
6 The Argentine Northeast Region (NEA)
6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 The Missionary Plateau
6.2 Corrientes and Their Environmental Variety
6.3 The Chaco and Formosa
6.4 The Northeast and the Great Stages of Capitalism in the West. Potential and Externalities
6.4.1 The Colonial Stage and the Influence of Mercantilism
6.5 The Entry of Argentina to the Capitalist System. The International Division of Labour and the Agricultural Export Economy
6.6 Industrialization for Import Substitution or Production for the Domestic Market
6.7 Restructuring and Flexible Accumulation. The Phase of the New International Division of Labour, the Increase in Poverty, and the Loss of Quality of Life
6.8 New Expectations at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century
6.9 Infant Mortality According to the Place of Residence of the Mother
6.10 Proportion of Population Without Coverage by Prepaid Health Insurance, Private or Mutual Health Plan
6.11 Percentage of Population Living in Households that Have a Toilet Without Flushing or Do not Have a Toilet
6.12 Percentage of Population in Overcrowded Households, with More Than Two People Per Room
6.13 Percentage of the Population Aged 15 and Over no Longer Attending School and with a Level of Instruction Reached Less Than Complete Primary
6.14 Percentage of the Population Aged 15 and Over No Longer Attending School and with a Complete University Level of Instruction
6.15 Quality of Life and Well-Being Index
References

Citation preview

The Latin American Studies Book Series

Claudia Andrea Mikkelsen Santiago Linares Guillermo Angel Velázquez   Editors

Quality of Life in Argentina Maps, Indexes and Regional Analysis from 2010

The Latin American Studies Book Series Series Editors Eustógio W. Correia Dantas, Departamento de Geografia, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil Jorge Rabassa, Laboratorio de Geomorfología y Cuaternario, CADIC-CONICET, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

The Latin American Studies Book Series promotes quality scientific research focusing on Latin American countries. The series accepts disciplinary and interdisciplinary titles related to geographical, environmental, cultural, economic, political, urban and health-related research dedicated to Latin America. The series publishes comprehensive monographs, edited volumes and textbooks refereed by a region or country expert specialized in Latin American studies. The series aims to raise the profile of Latin American studies, showcasing important works developed focusing on the region. It is aimed at researchers, students, and everyone interested in Latin American topics. Submit a proposal: Proposals for the series will be considered by the Series Advisory Board. A book proposal form can be obtained from the Publisher, Andrea Brody-Barre ([email protected]).

Claudia Andrea Mikkelsen · Santiago Linares · Guillermo Angel Velázquez Editors

Quality of Life in Argentina Maps, Indexes and Regional Analysis from 2010

Editors Claudia Andrea Mikkelsen National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (INHUS) National University of Mar del Plata Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Santiago Linares National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGHECS) National University of the Centre of the Province of Buenos Aires Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Guillermo Angel Velázquez National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGHECS) National University of the Centre of the Province of Buenos Aires Tandil, Argentina

ISSN 2366-3421 ISSN 2366-343X (electronic) The Latin American Studies Book Series ISBN 978-3-031-48211-3 ISBN 978-3-031-48212-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Paper in this product is recyclable.

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Introduction

This volume entitled Quality of Life in Argentina is a portion of a larger work, the “Historical and Geographical Atlas of Argentina”, edited by Dr. Guillermo Angel Velázquez who, in the company of an interdisciplinary group of researchers from Argentina, seek to reflect on the conceptual category quality of life in a historical, geographical, political, economic, sociological and demographic key. This third volume enquires into recovering one of the fundamental categories of the geographical discipline, i.e. the region. In this way, the regional perspective is attached as an addition to the debate on the concept of quality of life. Quality of life is a concept that takes into account the context in which people develop their lives. Its etymology dates from the 1930s (Tonon, 2009), although its development began in the 1970s with the emblematic text by Campbell, Converse and Rodgers, The American Quality of Life: Perceptions, Evaluations and Satisfactions, which became a classic of the matter (Tonon, Martínez and Mikkelsen, 2022, in press). From spatial studies, interpreting the quality of life of the population implies recognizing the coexistence and conflictive overlapping of populations, enterprises, states, non-governmental organizations, among other actors, using the territory in diverse, complex ways and not always in accordance with the common good, therefore unjust. To tend to a quality life is an objective that all societies have pursued and wanted. As Velázquez states “... it is a measure of achievement with respect to a level established as optimal taking into account socioeconomic and environmental dimensions dependent on the scale of values prevailing in society and that vary according to the expectations of historical progress” (Velázquez, 2001, p. 15). In general, it can be said that quality of life comprises, in the first place, the material basis on which life develops; secondly, the natural and built environment in which human beings operate; and ultimately, to all the relationships that come from the activities carried out, both work and other types of socio-political and cultural relations. This is an evaluative concept. Conceptually, quality of life is currently understood as a multidisciplinary and multidimensional category, a consensus reached in the 1990s when the International vii

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Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) and the Institute for Research on Quality of Life (IRQV) of the University of Girona (Catalonia, Spain) encouraged and developed research in an integrated and interdisciplinary way (Mikkelsen, Molgaray and Tonon, 2017) and in its path, highlighted territorial injustices as a goal. Thus, since 1990, it is possible to encourage and develop quality of life studies in different parts of the planet, promoting interdisciplinary research, while it is also possible to establish an encouraging framework to coincide in a multidimensional and at the same time synthetic definition about the quality of life as a specific concept (Tonon, 2008). In Geography, the antecedent for quality of life studies is found in the 1970s, in the context of critical-radical Geography, in a scenario in which “despite the high levels of well-being, the symptoms of social decomposition, loss of the meaning of life, increase in suicides, violence, drug addiction, etc., increased” (Palomino and López, 2000, p. 33). It is worth mentioning Smith’s Human Geography, a welfare approach. Smith (1980) proposed a new way of structuring Human Geography around wellbeing, considering that this theme is integrative and allows to gather the contributions of Quantitative Geography and Radical Geography to constitute a social science at the service of the time. Reflecting then on the quality of life of the population from their located knowledge allows to recover regions as spatial cuts. The conceptual and methodological debate about the region has been present practically since the institutionalization of Geography towards the end of the nineteenth century (Paasi, 2020). The word region derives from the word “regir” (to govern), regency, regent (da Costa Gomes, 1995). At the time of the Roman Empire, the word region designated the areas that were under the control of Rome. da Costa Gomes declared that “some philosophers interpret the emergence of this concept as a necessity for a historical moment in which, for the first time, the relationship between the centralization of power in a place and the extension of it over an area of great social, cultural and spatial diversity arises” (1995, p. 41). It is also used as an administrative unit, it is the regional division, the means by which hierarchy and control by States are frequently exercised. For his part, “In Geography, the use of this notion of region is a little more complex, because we try to make it a scientific concept, we inherit the lack of definitions and the strength of its use in the common language and to this are added the epistemological discussions that the very use of this concept imposes on us” (da Costa Gomes, 1995, p. 54). Haesbaert (1999) proposed to recover three classic authors responsible for the paternity of the region in Geography: Vidal de la Blache, Carl Sauer and Richard Hasrtshorne (Haesbaert, 1999, p. 17). This author has stated that from different perspectives, these authors emphasized the differentiation of areas as the fundamental question in the work of geographers. For Santos (1996, p. 47), “studying a region means penetrating a sea of relationships, forms, functions, organizations, structures, etc., with their most diverse levels of interaction and contradiction”. The same author stated that the regional

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study assumes an important role today, in order to understand how the same mode of production is reproduced in different regions of the globe, based on its specificities. It is interesting to recover from the hand of Haesbaert the updating of the concept region contemplating the complexity present in the definition of regional cuts, crossed by various social actors; the intense mutability that quickly modifies regional coherence and cohesion and the insertion of the region in the overlapping processes of globalization/fragmentation (1999, p. 32). The region becomes its final product, constitutes a holistic framework that integrates the significant and fundamental characteristics of the territories; multi-purpose spatial framework, very flexible, allowing a wide range of utilities ranging from inventory to evaluation, monitoring and management; provides a framework for comparative analysis between territories that makes better knowledge available; provides a framework for prediction and extrapolation, and accommodates dynamic conditions; in a scalable way, therefore applicable from the regional to the local; and a robust model for the analysis of complex relationships in the landscape (López Trigal, 2015). This often disqualified term, frequently used without empirical reference or without theoretical reflection, in recent decades returns to Geography, presenting new edges and applications (Ares, Lucero and Mikkelsen, 2020). The resurgence towards 1990 is related to the aspiration to avoid disciplinary disintegration. Recent and exhaustive works (Paasi, 2020) express that the renewal of regional studies is due to numerous factors such as neoliberal globalization, increased economic competition, the increase in the knowledge economy and the demands of policies focused on the regional scale. As Benedetti puts it, “... regions are no longer conceived as ontologically fixed entities, but as dynamic, transforming structures that are being permanently constituted through the material and cultural practices of society”...“Regional categories are part of the fabric of social relations, they are not products external to society, they are not formed in instances before or after social events: the region is also a social event. And not only the region as a social space has its history, but also as an idea, as a category, as a name” (Benedetti, 2009, p. 10). In this return and retaking of the concept region since the 1990s (Paassi, 2020), the present volume goes to the exercise of distinguishing six functional regions that emerged during the twentieth century and that result from the national statistics agency INDEC, which distinguishes Cuyo, North-east (NEA), North-west (NOA), Patagonia, Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (RMBA) and the Pampas. As Benedetti said, “This regionalization is present throughout the national statistical system and has become one of the levels of information accumulation of the country, intermediate between the provinces and the nation. These groupings had as their main territorial effect a zonal statistical homogenization, with its correlative symbolic effect, already very powerful in some cases” (Benedetti, 2009, p.17). With this regional conformation, the spatial cuts divide the country to present statistical information using a political, administrative criterion. The boundaries coincide with those of the provinces or with those of the districts in the case of the Metropolitan region.

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Basically, the objective of this volume is to study the inequalities in the quality of life of the Argentine population at the regional level in the six regions of the National Statistical System. The chapters employ an identical methodology sustained in the construction of an objective synthesis measure of quality of life. Based on census information, other statistical sources (published and unpublished), satellite images and field surveys, the counties of the Argentine Republic are analysed. In general, readers will find a series of thematic maps that are linked to: (a) socioeconomic issues (education, health, housing) and (b) environmental aspects (environmental problems and recreational resources) of the quality of life of the population. Both dimensions are integrated into synthetic measures that allow the comparison of the situation of the population residing in any region of the national territory, with the highest possible level of detail. This detail refers to the counties, third-order spatial division, below the nation and provinces (more than 500 units). In the case of some regions, it was possible to analyse the objective quality of life at the scale of census radii, fifth-order spatial units, below the counties and census fractions (52,408 units). The result of the analysis and interpretation of the living conditions prevailing in the six Argentine regions is carried out by renowned national specialists who, on the basis of a common methodology, bring us closer to the knowledge of the historical construction of their regions of residence and study. In the Patagonian region, Marcos Damian Mare and Germán Gabriel Pérez immerse into unveiling the complex historical, cultural and geographical fabric that results from the evolution of this extensive area, revealing the internal heterogeneity and the ways of linking with other national regions. In this sense, taking into account the dynamics of the concepts quality of life and region, the authors present twelve areas of relative homogeneity (AHR) for Patagonia that are complemented by other relevant aspects characterizing this space such as the proximity to hierarchical urban spaces and the level of connectivity. Each of the AHRs was grouped into three levels of hierarchy according to the degree of spatial structuring (regional organization of the system of urban centres—communication routes—articulation with the rural hinterland) and their quality of life, AHRs being established with very good levels quality of life and high territorial integration, AHRs with incomes and good levels of quality of life in areas of economic activity and diverse territorial integration and AHRs with level of regional disarticulation and adverse indicators of quality of life. For their part, Guillermo Angel Velázquez, Néstor Javier Gómez and Adela Tisnés characterize the quality of life of the Pampas region, understood in the comparison with the rest of the regions as the one with the greatest relative development, with a leading role in the national system that results from its diversified productive structure that allows it to have positive exportable balances. This region, comprising the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Córdoba and La Pampa, holds a high proportion of urban population, and its urban centres are highly hierarchical. Seeking characterizing elements that identify criteria of a certain homogeneity towards the interior of the spatial cut, the authors express the constitution of three groups of provinces depending on their role in the framework of the region and the behavior of

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their objective quality of life. These provinces are 1-Buenos Aires, with greater relative development, 2-Córdoba and Santa Fe, with relatively high rates of well-being and with transition zones to other regions to the north and 3-La Pampa and Entre Ríos, a relatively peripheral area. Introduced the generalities of these three cuts, the authors then referred to the behavior of the socioeconomic and environmental dimensions according to the analysis methodology predicted in the generality of the volume according to regions. Thus, the authors contribute that the Pampas region is, after the Patagonian region, the one with the best quality of life in Argentina; however, this general indicator shows heterogeneities towards the regional interior, being able to distinguish sub-regions such as the southerners Pampas and the foreigners Pampas, with the best conditions or areas with the worst relative situations registered in the regional edges of the Santa Fe’s Chaco, the West Pampas and the Pampean Sierras. Other sub-regions, such as the undulating pampas or the coastline, show varying degrees of contradiction, with which the Pampas region displays marked inequalities towards its interior. The Cuyo region is characterized by Jaime Barcelona, Rosana Castillo, Andrea Leceta and Ricardo Villavicencio. The authors portray the spatial cut from a natural landscape and historical demographic approach marked by the scarcity of water and two processes of external domination: the colonization of the Inca Empire and the Spanish colonization. In this regard, three periods in the settlement of the region are reviewed—1st stage: Pre-Hispanic Settlement (from the primitive inhabitants of the region to the arrival of the Spaniards), 2nd stage: Colonial Settlement (from the arrival and installation of the Spaniards to the region until 1810) and 3rd stage: Modern Settlement (from 1810 (May Revolution) to the present day). Over the last decades, mining of gold oil exploitation was the activity that gave greater dynamism, along with tourism, which completes a scenery of diversification. Mendoza is the regional centre, followed by San Juan and San Luis. Cuyo is depicted by the authors in a division of nine sub-regions and seeks to maintain cohesion among them based on a double criterion: spatial continuity and functional hierarchy. These sub-regions are Oasis, Puntano Axis, Minera Norte, Minera Sur, Travesía, Valle Fértil, Serranías, Pastoril and Payunia. When reporting on the behavior of quality of life, readers will be able to appreciate that San Luis stands out for its unfavourable situation, with low quality of life values, followed in importance by San Juan province with intermediate values and Mendoza province with a more favourable situation, emphasizing the quality of life differentials on the basis of the nine sub-regions. The metropolitan region of Buenos Aires (RMBA) is elaborated by Mariana Marcos and Gustavo Buzai. This area is made up of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 40 surrounding districts (two rings of the so-called 24 districts of the Greater Buenos Aires and a third ring of 16 additional districts). Through the quality of life index, the authors illustrate the heterogeneities prevailing in the RMBA, given that within a territorially small space both communes and districts belonging to the group of counties with the highest quality of life in the country are found, as well as others referring to the group with the lowest quality of life. The quality of life according to the dimensions yielded by its objective analysis at the level of the radii

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of the RMBA shows specific distribution patterns, since it tends to diminish from the centre to the periphery of the region, describing concentric rings around the nucleus of privileged conditions constituted by the communes of the centre and north of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the municipalities of Vicente López and San Isidro, while in the third ring districts that reach intermediate and even high levels of quality of life emerge. The authors express that the analysis of the main agglomeration of the Pampas region expresses distinctive features shared with other Latin American cities, these are: centrality, linearity, accessibility, fragmentation and dispersion. The Argentine North-west (NOA) is examined by Fernando Longhi and Pablo Paolasso, who express that from the cultural, historical and natural views, it is a cut marked by diversity and lack of homogeneity, but that what unfortunately does appear as a distinctive feature is the fact of being currently defined as a peripheral region, associated with conditions of poverty, low quality of life and extreme inequalities. The guiding objective of the text focuses on analysing how the territorial transformations that occurred during the first decade of the twenty-first century affected the quality of regional life, in a comparison 2001–2010. According to this task, the authors display various groups of possibilities, Type A: counties that improved their levels based on high records of quality of life, Type B: counties that emerge towards high levels of quality of life based on intermediate records, Type C: integrated by jurisdictions that subtly improve their quality of life but their magnitudes are still very low on both dates. On the other hand, jurisdictions that worsened their quality of life in 2010 stand out, so Type D is represented by few counties in which there was a decline in their situation, although of moderate magnitude. Finally, in Type E there are jurisdictions that, having high records of quality of life, suffered setbacks in their situation. The analysis carried out in the comparison of the 2001–2010 indices shows that 53.3% of the population improved their quality of life. The explanatory causes of this improvement, even within an unfavourable general context, are linked to territoriality processes associated with the production of grains, high-quality wines, open-pit mining and tourism oriented towards international markets. On the contrary, that is, 46.7% of the population which indicates worse situations in their living conditions represent traditional areas with underdeveloped economies and slightly linked to international markets. The Argentine North-east (NEA), which completes the set of regions, is in charge of María Alejandra Fantín and Mirta Liliana Ramírez. These authors pose as a challenge a variation of the scales of the thresholds used at the national level, in order to locate greater details in the behaviour within the regional space of the NEA, for this they disaggregate the total cut in the Misiones Plateau, and the Corrientes, Chaco and Formosa provinces. The authors provide an interesting scanning that strengthens the understanding of the regional dynamics around demographic and productive changes and continuities in close relation to the modes of division and appropriation of land and economic exploitation, related to the environmental skills of the different spaces. As expressed by the authors, the NEA continues to be, despite the extensive and intense expectations of its societies, the most dispossessed region of our country, leading in several individual indicators, the range of worst conditions in the

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national territory. Given this accomplished fact, it is particularly in the interest of the authors to avoid comparison with the rest of the national jurisdictions and to focus on trying to increase the accuracy of the evaluation within the regional space. However, they redouble the bet with the honest intention of making the positive changes that occurred in the intercensal period 2001–2010 observable according to the established methodology. This confirms a decrease in spatial representativeness of the most critical values, especially in the centre and west of the Chaco province and centre and south-west of Corrientes province. The improvements are concentrated in the eastern fluvial edge of the Chaco plain, corresponding to the Paraguay-Paraná river corridor, in the Paraná valley in Misiones and in the entire eastern half of Corrientes province. This set of chapters contributes to the current debate on the spatial behavior of the quality of life in the functional regions of Argentina; the geographers try to find from this contribution an understanding of the regions they inhabit and study, what happens in their regions and why that happens in this way, as well as the intraregional and extra regional differences, thus contributing to the new regional debate understood as open complex spaces or systems. The studies of López Levi and Ramírez (2012) propose that a region has multiple meanings and many variants where both traditional conceptualizations and emerging approaches are reflected, which are developed simultaneously in the contemporary moment. They emphasize the importance of developing only catalogues of features, but moving on to the analysis of the system as a whole, considering the interrelations and dynamics is the way heterogeneity will be a classification factor in the configuration of regions and can make sense if you want to give more relevance to the objects and actions that represent a manifestation, finally they express that regions must be analysed as increasingly open and dynamic spaces, with numerous relationships towards other areas of diverse hierarchy, where interactions not only occur internally but also generate links with other spaces and at various scales. Claudia Andrea Mikkelsen Santiago Linares Guillermo Angel Velázquez

References Ares S, Mikkelsen C, Lucero P (2020) Región, regionalizaciones y delimitación del sudeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires. In: Caminos Geográficos. Posta 1. Revista de difusión del Grupo de Estudios Sobre Población y Territorio (GESPyT)—Facultad de Humanidades. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP). https://gespyt.wixsite.com/gespyt/caminos-geograficos Benedetti A (2009) Los usos de la categoría región en el pensamiento geográfico argentino. Scripta nova. Revista Electrónica Geografía Ciencias Sociales xiii(286) Da Costa Gomes P (1995) O conceito de regiao e sua discussao. Geografía: Coceitos e temas (Lobato Correa and others. Organizers). Ed. Bertrand, Brasil Haesbaert R (1999) Regiao, diversidade territorial e globalizacao. Revista GEOgraphia-UFF. Año 1, N° 1. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro. Consulted September 2018. Online available at: http://www.geographia.uff.br/index.php/geographia/article/view/4/3

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Haesbaert R (2009) Regiao, diversidade territorial e globalizacao. In: Revista Geographia-UFF. Consulted September 2018. Online available at: http://www.geographia.uff.br/index.php/geo graphia/article/view/4/3 Hasbaert R (2014) Por uma constelacao geografica de conceitos. In: Vivir no limite. Ed. Bertrand, Brasil López Trigal L (2015) Diccionario de geografía aplicada y profesional: terminología de análisis, planificación y gestión del territorio. Universidad de León, León, Spain Mikkelsen C, Molgaray D, Tonon G (2017) Los estudios geográficos orientados a combinar la noción calidad de vida y los usos del territorio en Argentina. In: Libro del VI Congreso Nacional de Geografía de Universidades Públicas—República Argentina. and XVI Encuentro de profesores en Geografía del nordeste Argentino, 25–27 October 2017. Resistencia, Chaco Paasi A (2020) From bounded spaces to relational social constructs: conceptualization of the region in geography. Paul K, Godehardt N (eds) The multidimensionality of regions in world politics. Routledge, London Palomino B, López G (2000) La calidad de vida: expresión del desarrollo. In: Calidad de vida, salud y ambiente. UNAM, INI, México Santos M (1996) Metamorfosis del espacio habitado. Editorial Oikos-tau, Barcelona Smith D (1980) Geografía Humana. Oikos-Tau, Barcelona Tonon G, Martínez J, Mikkelsen C (2022) Community quality of life and socio spatial inequalities. In: Kraeger P (ed) Social (in)equality, community well-being and quality of life. (in press) Tonon G (2008) Investigar la calidad de vida en Argentina. Revista Psicodebate 8. Psicología, Cultura y Sociedad. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Marzo, pp 141–151. ISSN: 1515-2251. Online available at: http://www.palermo.edu/cienciass ociales/publicaciones/pdf/Psico8/8Psico%2010.pdf Tonon G (2009) Los estudios sobre calidad de vida y la perspectiva de la psicología positiva. Revista Psicodebate, 10. Psicología, Cultura y Sociedad. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, pp 73–81. ISSN: 1515-2251. Online available at: http://www.palermo. edu/cienciassociales/publicaciones/pdf/psico10/10Psico_04.pdf Velázquez G (2001) Geografía, Calidad de Vida y Fragmentación en la Argentina de los noventa. Análisis regional y departamental utilizando SIG’s, Centro de Investigaciones geográficas (GFCH)—Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, (UNCPBA), Red de Editoriales de Universidades Nacionales, Tandil

Contents

1 Argentine Patagonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marcos Damian Mare and Germán Gabriel Pérez

1

2 The Pampean Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guillermo Angel Velázquez, Néstor Javier Gómez, and Adela Tisnés

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3 Cuyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jaime Barcelona, Rosana Castillo, Andrea Leceta, and Ricardo Villavicencio

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4 Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Mariana Marcos and Gustavo Buzai 5 Northwestern Argentina (NOA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Fernando Longhi and Pablo Paolasso 6 The Argentine Northeast Region (NEA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 María Alejandra Fantín and Mirta Liliana Ramírez

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Editors and Contributors

About the Editors Claudia Andrea Mikkelsen Professor and graduate in Geography. Master in Social Sciences with a mention in Regional Development from the National University of the Center of the province of Buenos Aires. She has a Ph.D. in Geography from the National University of the South. Post-doctorate Program of Post-doctoral Stays in Quality of Life at UNICOM, Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Lomas de Zamora. She is Head of practical works, Faculty of Humanities, National University of Mar del Plata. Argentina. She is research Associate of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). She is member of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (INHUS)/ CONICET, member of Population and Territory Studies Group (GESPyT), Faculty of Humanities National University of Mar del Plata and member of Geographical Research Center (CIG), Faculty of Human Sciences, National University of the Center. e-mail: [email protected] Santiago Linares is a professor of Geography, a master’s degree in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems from the National University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires (UNCPBA) and a Ph.D. in Geography from the National University of the South (UNS). His research topics are related to the modeling and analysis of urban space and applications of Geographic Information Systems to research in Geography and various spheres of territorial planning. He is Adjunct Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) of Argentina. Member of the Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGEHCS) dependent on CONICET-UNCPBA. Professor of the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Human Sciences (UNCPBA), in charge of the chairs related to the application of Geographic Information Technologies and quantitative spatial analysis. Director of Estudios Socioterritoriales Journal. He participates

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in various institutionally accredited research projects, has taught numerous training and postgraduate courses on research and spatial analysis with GIS, participates as a member of national and international networks on Geography Information, as well as, is responsible for extension and transfer projects where geotechnologies are applied to the solution of socio-economic and environmental problems in various municipalities of Argentina. e-mail: [email protected] Guillermo Angel Velázquez Graduated with Honor Diploma in 1983 from University of Buenos Aires, Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters (Geography) in 1994. Professor since 1986 in the Department of Geography of UNICEN (Tandil). Ordinary Full Professor since 1992 (maximum category). Visiting professor at University of Alcalá (1991 and 1994); UNESP (2004). Professor of Doctorate and Master’s seminars at UNMdP-FLACSO (1997); UNSur (2002-09); UNCuyo, (2002–04); USP, São Paulo (2004); UNCPBA (2004); UNNE (2007); UNLaPlata (2007); UNTucumán (2008, 2014); UNCórdoba (2013, 2020); UNSalta (2014); UNLitoral (2015). Invited lecturer at the Complutense University, Madrid (1991); UAH, Alcalá (1991); Valladolid (1991 and 1994); UFRO, Temuco (1999); Bio-Bio, Chillan (2000); UNP, Piura (2000); UNLP, Santa Rosa (2001 and 2009); UNESP, Marilia (2001 and 2004); UFZ, Leipzig (2002); UNNE, Resistencia (2003); USP, São Paulo (2004); PUCP, Minas Gerais (2004 and 2014); UPV, Vitoria (2008); UNLZ (2013); UMSA, La Paz (2015); UNL, Santa Fe (2015). Senior Researcher at CONICET since 2014. CONICET Principal Investigator (2007–2014). First in order of merit (100/100 points). Professor-Researcher Category “I” (maximum) since 1998. Secretary of Research and Extension. Fac. Cs. Humanas UNICEN (1989–1992). Vice President of the Association for Population Studies of Argentina (AEPA) (2001–2003). Director of the Center for Geographical Research (CIG) (1996–2012). Director of the Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGEHCS) since 2018. e-mail: [email protected]

Contributors Jaime Barcelona National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina Gustavo Buzai National University of Lujan, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina Rosana Castillo National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina María Alejandra Fantín National University of Nordeste, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Chaco, Argentina Néstor Javier Gómez National University of the Litoral, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Santa Fe, Argentina

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Andrea Leceta National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina Fernando Longhi National University of Tucumán, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Tucumán, Argentina Mariana Marcos National University of Buenos Aires, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina Marcos Damian Mare National University of Comahue, Neuquén, Argentina Pablo Paolasso National University of Tucumán, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Tucumán, Argentina Germán Gabriel Pérez National University of Comahue/CONICET, Neuquén, Argentina Mirta Liliana Ramírez National University of Nordeste, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Chaco, Argentina Adela Tisnés National University of the Centre of the Province of Buenos Aires, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina Guillermo Angel Velázquez National University of the Centre of the Province of Buenos Aires, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina Ricardo Villavicencio National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina

Chapter 1

Argentine Patagonia Marcos Damian Mare and Germán Gabriel Pérez

Abstract In this chapter, the quality of life index (QLI) is used to analyze the socio-economic and environmental differences, at the census radius scale, of the population of Argentine Patagonia, a territory that, despite leading the national QLI ranking, has significant internal differences. The results obtained show 12 Areas of Relative Homogeneity distinguished by their internal characteristics and qualities of the regional organization. The variables related to the quality of life show different situations. Among them, one highlight: (a) differentiation between rural spaces with a large surface area and a low population concerning urban areas that structure regional dynamism, (b) significant fragmentation in urban peripheries in a context of great demographic dynamism, (c) enclaves of exploitation of energy, mineral and tourist resources and (d) intermediate cities with administrative and financial weight. All these disparities confirm the idea of a highly heterogeneous Argentine Patagonia. Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Patagonia region · Subregions · Counties

1.1 Introduction There are naive, romantic and even dangerously anachronistic imaginaries at a local and international level in relation to the geography of this large area of our national territory known as the Patagonia region. It is quite famous for the “beautiful pictures” of the astounding sights intended for recreation and leisure in the Cordilleran and Maritime regions or for areas that are endowed with limitless and valuable resources, especially energy sources targeted for the growth of the nation. However, it is not frequent to reflect upon the way in which such values, for the large rural areas, have historically become inaccessible to the inhabitants of Patagonia themselves, but, M. D. Mare (B) National University of Comahue, Neuquén, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] G. G. Pérez National University of Comahue/CONICET, Neuquén, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_1

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conversely, have become accessible to the national and foreign elites, resulting from the speculative expansion process of the real estate business. The latter, on several occasions, is at conflict with the areas historically occupied by indigenous farmers and communities. Land acquisition by foreign investors and private concentration of land are worrying as, for example, only one economic group belonging to an Italian family owns a portion of land in the Patagonia equivalent to 12 times the total amount of the urban areas in this region; an area comparable to 40 times the surface of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, the extensive plateaus and “deserts” have been revalued in the national discourse through campaigns, such as the ones related to the exploitation of unconventional deposits of hydrocarbons, corresponding to the geological formation known as “Vaca Muerta” mostly developed in the province of Neuquén. Current discourse seems to forget that the hydrocarbon extraction has been performed for more than a century in the Northern and Southern part of Patagonia. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, Patagonia comes back to the national scenario placed under the same motto of the economic plans delivered during the mid-twentieth century and Developmentalism as an area devoted to the provision of “natural resources” for the “Nation”. It was one alleged opportunity for the eagerly awaited economic recovery of the country, in its renewed role of producer of commodities and as a generator of employment. These territories are, therefore, subject to new waves of national and international migration with different characteristics that are exhibited as urban concentration and rural depopulation, mainly bearing conflictive nuances for the historical inhabitants. Within this context, indigenous towns of the Patagonia reappear in a legitimate and more and more generalized process of reconstruction of their identity, territory and historical claim after more than 100 years of domination. This panorama of Patagonia will be linked to the geographical assessment of the variables and dimensions which constitute the base for the study of Quality of Life. In this respect, after a theoretical-methodological section which explains the difference between the concept of region and areas of relative homogeneity, there appear 12 areas different from each other due to its internal characteristics regarding quality of life, so that, eventually, we could analyze all the specific aspects of each one of them in detail.

1.2 Theoretical-Methodological-Grounds In accordance with the aforementioned, it can be asserted that there exists a general view of Patagonia as a homogeneous place. Nevertheless, in its interior, there exist a great diversity of territories, different ways of social and cultural organization, myriad landscapes, a good deal of economic activities, a lot of resources, etc. Therefore, such reductionist representations that, even in the early twenty-first century were grounded in the common sense, have resulted from the understanding of regions as an a-priori defined object. That is to say, a spatial category defined by its economic potential

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for a development plan (Carbonari 2009). Such concepts, especially in Argentina, have led to the forceful conception of a region as a mere group of large jurisdictional units (provinces and old national territories), which are physically adjacent, in terms of relatively homogeneous characteristics. Contextualized in the academic discourse of the mid-twentieth century about the theoretical basis of economic development, Developmentalist policies were implemented in our country. This regional concept strove for the goal of a plan aimed to “balance” the spatial and functional distribution of the economic processes in the national territory. Nowadays, more than ever, it is necessary to discuss strategies of analysis that would make it possible to study Patagonia from the point of view of categories that recognize its complexity, that is to say, from its internal heterogeneity and its different ways of interaction with other regions. From a theoretical standpoint, this perspective implies reviewing the concept of region, which should no longer be considered as something given or defined in advance based on criteria which includes many topics, but it should be the result of understanding social processes which establish certain ways of relationships and processes with implications in the definition and dynamics of spatial configurations. Consequently, this region entails the understanding of phenomena that might be studied inside the territory, but whose appearance and functioning corresponds to a wider spatial group, and, at the same time, becomes the result of the temporariness and spatiality of social processes that are assembled at different scales (de Jong 2009; Mare 2012; Pérez 2018a, b). The quality of life (QLI) of the population (Map 1.1) is a feature or one more aspect of the region; besides, it is one of the forms of appearance of the social phenomenon even though it does not allow a full understanding of the region. Indeed, no matter how inclusive the selection and design of certain indexes are, reductionism of different topics can only be prevented by the understanding of complex phenomena. This does not mean that the approach from certain variables of analysis does not enable forms of extrapolation to the regional or that it is not possible to differentiate the connection between zones or areas according to some aspects of reality. On the contrary, from a methodological standpoint, the analysis of indicators based on different topics which reflects upon the spatial distribution according to its relative homogeneity is as useful for State plans as for the mere effects to facilitate scientific communication.

1.2.1 Methodological Usefulness of the Concept of Areas of Relative Homogeneity (Áreas de Homogeneidad Relativa, AHR, in Spanish) and Its Difference with the Regional Approach The recognition, division and classification of the space are relevant steps for its understanding. Areas of relative homogeneity are analyzed according to a variety of

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Map 1.1 Quality of life index. Argentinian Patagonia. Source Prepared by the authors based on Velázquez and Celemín (2019)

factors, previously selected with regard to the goals of this study, which partially corresponds to its qualities and spatial expression relatively adjacent. In other words, areas are clustered according to the spatial analysis of several geographical characteristics that, in this study, make up for the quality of life in Patagonia. The essential aspects that define these areas are linked to two dimensions: socioeconomic (including education, health and housing indicators) and environmental (including recreational resources and environmental problems indicators). In this research, selected census tracts allow to observe how indicators behave in the rural and urban areas of every area of relative homogeneity. This spatial analysis is complemented by other relevant aspects that cannot be left aside in the framework of the magnificence of Patagonia, such as the closeness to the urban hierarchy and the level of road network. This is the case because physical distances within Patagonia in relation to such urban centers in the regional context largely define the opportunity to access to a lot of dimensions of the quality of life, such as health, education, transportation, recreation, etc. Furthermore, road network (including modes of transportation from any place in the area of influence toward these hierarchical centers) will also have implications on the quality of life. Thus, for instance, a person will have better access to health care if there is an adequate road infrastructure to travel from their place of residence to a hierarchical urban center than going to another center which lacks road infrastructure, no matter how close that site is.

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The proceeding departs from previous documents (Velázquez et al. 2014; de Jong and Mare 2016) in which the matter of quality of life and other indicators related to the conditions for a development plan are studied through data at a departmental level complemented by an integrative qualitative approach. Based on this and according to the analysis of the new cartography generated at the scale of census tracts (INDEC 2010), it was possible, in this case, to discuss and establish new demarcations of areas of relative homogeneity with a more methodological precision associated to the goals of this atlas. Finally, areas of relative homogeneity were adjusted according to the distance and road network criteria explained above.

1.3 Areas of Relative Homogeneity Resulting from the application of the criteria that have just been explained, there exist 12 areas of relative homogeneity according to the geography, allowing the understanding of the quality of life in them (Map 1.2). These areas have been clustered in three levels of hierarchy in agreement with the degree of spatial structure (regional organization of the system of urban centers—ways of communication—articulation with the rural hinterland) and quality of life (considered in relation to its specific dimensions), leading to a general assessment regarding the role of the most prevailing economic activity or activities. These areas of relative homogeneity are displayed in the following way: Areas of relative homogeneity with a high level of quality of life and strong territorial integration Alto Valle and Valle Medio of the Negro river Andean Patagonia Atlantic: Valdés Peninsula and Lower Valley of the Chubut river (Valle Inferior del río Chubut, VIRCh, in Spanish) San Jorge Gulf open to the Atlantic Ocean Tierra del Fuego Areas of relative homogeneity with standard and high levels of quality of life in areas of diverse economic activity and territorial integration South Atlantic: Bahía Grande Northeast of Rio Negro Province Andean South occupied by Large Lakes and Glaciers Northern Internal Hydrocarbon Area The interior of Neuquén province Main-road Towns Areas of relative homogeneity with a regional disarticulation and adverse indicators of quality of life Main Plateaus in Patagonia

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Map 1.2 Areas of relative homogeneity (Áreas de Homogeneidad Relativa, AHR, in Spanish) Argentine Patagonia. Source Prepared by the authors (2019)

1.4 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with a High Level of Quality of Life and Strong Territorial Integration 1.4.1 Alto Valle and Valle Medio of the Negro River This area of relative homogeneity is located in the North of Patagonia, in the area of the lower valleys of the Limay and Neuquén rivers and in the large area of the valley along the Negro River. It is a zone with a great fruit production in which we find towns and cities of diverse hierarchy in an almost linear extension and with different degrees of population concentration and density. The most important road network in this area of relative homogeneity is made up of National Route no. 22, which connects Valle Medio with the city of Neuquén and Plottier, National Route no. 151 and Provincial Route of Neuquén no. 7. In the middle of this area, we find the lower valleys of the Limay and Neuquén rivers and the upper and middle valleys of the Negro river. This is the most densely populated area of Patagonia with a great dynamism regarding the economic activities and the functions that all the urban centers hold. Currently, there is an important inequality as regards the weight of some economic activities and the population density, a situation that has not always been like that.

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Historical Aspects

A strong national government action in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries paved the way for the beginning of an urban settlement process in this area. The before mentioned action was carried out, at the beginning, by the military, but, later, in the early twentieth century, it started to focus on the infrastructure and necessary actions for the development of the economic activity exemplified by the construction of hydraulic and irrigation works (represented mainly by the Ingeniero Ballester dam and its main channel), railroad works, incentives for the arrival of settlers and the delayed division of land for the production. These actions and works first encouraged the origin of the production of alfalfa, and later, of fruits. At the beginning of 1930, fruit production started to structure the whole zone, making up in Alto Valle a “metropolitan area without a metropolis” according to Varpñarsky (1982, p. 36). At that moment, Valle Medio depicted by the towns of Choele Choel, Lamarque and Luis Beltrán, was responsible for fruit and vegetable production even though they did not have such important dynamics as the rest of the area. Choele Choel stood out from the other two cities because it connected the Patagonian Coastal and Northeast areas. In the mid-twentieth century, fruticulture was consolidated and the success of the activity reflected an improvement in the living conditions of small producers who were able to get good yields and earnings from their production even though they were submitted to the dominant factors of higher trade links (Bandieri and Blanco 1998). At the end of the twentieth century, there starts to appear a rapid process of urbanization boosted by the ongoing immigration to this zone, which, in turn, brought about a fast urban expansion of the main cities. There were different causes that have facilitated the development of this process, like the constitution of Neuquén as a province, the construction of huge hydroelectric works, the increase in hydrocarbon production, the critical moments of the fruit production and its decline. These processes, as a whole, started to create a different reality in the area, evidencing an economic inequality between the most dynamic cities (closer to the city of Neuquén) and the rest of the region. It was reasonable to expect that this new reality generates a brand-new situation as regards migration and population distribution. To summarize, the aforementioned processes put an end to the equality in the distribution of urban areas paving the way to a more unbalanced territory, in which the western sector began to concentrate more and more functions. Greater economic dynamism in the west of the system, as it was expected, led to a population increase. Despite the demographic growth being evident in all urban areas, it is noticeable that it has had a forceful impact in Neuquén and its surroundings. Therefore, this urbanization process entailed greater and deeper changes in the occidental part of the zone, leading to stronger contrasts regarding the quality of life in bigger cities (Pérez 2018a, b). These constitute matters that are exemplified based on the analysis of the city of Neuquén.

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The globalization stage, heralded by the growth of the economic activities based on natural resources, began to generate clear inequalities as regards the access to employment, land, housing and services in this territory, mainly evident in the cities. The hydrocarbon lease started to considerably have an influence on the employment, earnings and activities of the area, affecting, in its booms and busts, the services sector, markets and the construction activity. Likewise, energy royalties gained by some municipalities allowed their improvement and differentiation from the ones who did not receive any income. Nowadays, this area of relative homogeneity owns a truly dynamic sector like the city of Neuquén and its closer cities, a conurbation that stands out by its hierarchy in relation to diversity and number of urban functions, empowered by the hydrocarbon activity like the main driving force of the economy. Other sectors, such as Valle Medio and other smaller cities, do not share such dynamism; however, this situation does not imply any important loss in the quality of life of its inhabitants.

1.4.1.2

Quality of Life

Regarding the quality of life in Alto Valle and Valle Medio, we can find several general characteristics. On the one hand, there are excellent living conditions for people living in rural and urban areas thanks to adequate road network and short distances to the hierarchical centers from different sectors. Rural tracts where the fruit production has never existed present indicators of quality of life below average. These zones are characterized by extensive livestock production conditioned by harsh natural conditions, by poor housing infrastructure in relation to basic services and by issues with transportation. In other cases, these zones coincide with zones that manufacture bricks targeted to retail sale in the interior of the cities. These zones are mainly located in the north of the majority of the cities of this area of relative homogeneity, far from the rivers. For other rural tracts, the indicators of quality of life show above average results. These are zones where the fruit production has been performed. As it was mentioned before, fruit producers enjoyed good living conditions due to their possibilities of mobility, financial capacity and their closeness, in most of the cases, to populated centers that, despite being small, allowed them to satisfy their needs of education, health, commerce, among others. Currently, in the zones closer to the cities of great expansion, farms (economic units for fruit production) are really valued for the real estate business; most of them have already been subdivided and turned into living areas for middle and high social classes where there exist high indicators of quality of life. There tracts prevail in the zones closer to rivers where fruit activity has always been developed. In the urban sphere, the situation is different among cities and their interiors. Generally, there are good indicators of quality of life in the core areas of each locality, and they decline as getting closer to the peripheries. Many cities evidence tracts where indicators of quality of life are poor. This is noticeable in slums and newly created neighborhoods due to land occupations. As a general rule, we can say that the bigger

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the city is and the more recent and faster its growth, the more possibilities to find peripheries with problems regarding the quality of life of the population and, thus, the clearer the segregation (Perrén et al. 2016). On the contrary, in the cities with a great hierarchy, we can find tracts with high indexes of quality of life linked to zones bearing lofty property values where high social classes live. Many of them are closed neighborhoods. As a general panorama, the quality of life in this area of relative homogeneity is good and allows for the presence of centers hierarchically accessible to the majority of the population. Besides, the economic dynamism of the zone provides opportunities to access to employment, which, in turn, facilitates better access to services. Regarding environmental matters, it is necessary to argue that there are problems which, clearly identified, might have a significant impact on the life of the people, such the problems related to the hydrocarbon activity, landfill sites or water pollution (Pérez 2018a, b).

1.4.2 Andean Patagonia This area of relative homogeneity is located in northeastern Patagonia, in a zone distinguished by its landscape beauty. It has got mountain ranges with lakes, rivers, glaciers, brooks and forests; all of them provide a fundamental basis for the main economic activity of the area: tourism. Such elements have been possible thanks to natural conditions such as: An average height of the mountain range that is approximately 2000 m a.s.l., starting at the 39th parallel and toward the south, there are “Valles Transversales”. The entering of moist air masses from the Pacific Ocean is favored (Capua 2007). Due to the influence of rainfall, this is a wet environment where there can be found large extensions of native forests, housing certain species like Araucaria Araucanta (also called “Pehuén” or Monkey-puzzle tree), Nothofagus spp. (“Lenga” and “Coihue” beeches and “Ñire” trees, among others), “Arrayán” trees and “Patagonian Cypress”. The intense glacial action from the Pleistocene has brought about an erosion (such as cirques, U-shaped valleys and hanging valleys) and accumulation (moraines and terraces, among others). In most of the U-shaped glacial valleys, nowadays, deprived of ice masses, there are big lakes that characterize this area of relative homogeneity. Lastly, the snowy rainfall allows the development of tourism in winters. Furthermore, rainfall and water accumulation in the basin facilitate the hydroelectric generation in rivers that start from the mountain range area. Thus, the natural dynamics proposes strong possibilities for the main economic activity and, indirectly, for all other relevant activities in Patagonia.

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Historical Aspects

The first settlement in the zone was carried out by indigenous communities, such as Picunche, Pehuenche, Ranquel and Mapuche communities. The last communities started to settle toward the east of the mountain range due to the growing pressure of the Spanish colonization that occupied Chile since the sixteenth century. Even though there were missionaries and chronicles journeys, the settlement by the Argentine State began in the late nineteenth century by the military. In 1902, the town of San Carlos de Bariloche was founded, today one of the most important cities of the area. The lack of paths in good condition and the lack of connection with the Argentine railroad system placed limits to the possibilities of development in this area. In spite of the existence of development programs in the early twentieth century (Law on Fostering National Territories and documents prepared by the Water Research Committee), the population of the zone began to increase as of the 1930s with the establishment of the railway, the creation and settlement of the Administration of National Parks and other measures taken by the National State. Currently, tourism continues to be the leading economic activity which structures and defines most of the settlement and living conditions of the area. There are cities of diverse hierarchy and size that, for the most part, offer functions and services to the before mentioned activity. This area of relative homogeneity meets what Bondel defined as the Andean Patagonia “of lakes”. According to this geographer, there are formal criteria to define this zone as an area of certain homogeneity, but there are other criteria that point out the internal heterogeneities and quite different processes. Among the formal characteristics, an even vertical landscape stands out with warm weather, but cold in an Andean Patagonian forest strip. Besides, there is a predominant form of human settlement that matches the traditional shape of the pioneering front (Bondel 2011). Beyond this legitimate claim and focusing on what this chapter is about, we should discuss some general and specific characteristics in relation to the quality of life evidenced by the cartography. Generally, the quality of life index (QLI) index exhibits really high levels in the whole zone, that is to say, not only in rural but also urban areas. This may suggest that the economic activity of this area fosters good living conditions without major differences. The northern edge of the area shows tracts below the average level. Nonetheless, tourism is growing thanks to infrastructure investments such as the case of Villa Pehuenia Municipality. The most reduced values are associated to rural areas with family productive units and Mapuche community zone. Tracts which are reduced in extension (mostly associated with urban areas) present favorable conditions regarding health and education as compared to tracts which have a larger extension and are far from the most populated centers (rural areas). Just one city (the most populated of the area) evidences a sharp internal difference as regards the quality of life. San Carlos de Bariloche. The quality of life in the rest of the cities is homogeneous or has a slight difference, comparing to peripheral and core tracts.

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1.4.3 Atlantic Ocean: The Valdés Peninsula and the Lower Valley of the Chubut River (VIRCh) This area of relative homogeneity is shaped by its port facilities and is dominated by urban centers with a scale of certain hierarchy for the regional context and heterogeneous functions. The city of Trelew (99,430 inhabitants in 2010) is considered to be the main economic, commercial and specialized services center, apart from being the most populated city, relegating Rawson (31,787 inhabitants), the capital city of the province of Chubut, just as an administrative and government center. On the other hand, the city of Puerto Madryn, with fewer inhabitants (81,995) than Trelew, fights for the regional hierarchy, putting forth a higher average population growth rate of 39.47% against 11.71% of Trelew according to the 2001 and 2010 census. The spatial connection is structured by two main roads, one along the coast, National Route 3 and other across the before mentioned route following the path of Valle Inferior of the Chubut river, from Rawson to Dovalon, and then, along the plateau up to the Florentino Ameghino dam by National route no. 25. Regarding the maritime traffic, Puerto Madryn is the place where vessels arrive and depart, especially the ones related to the production generated by the regional economies. Between September and March, there are cruises and smaller vessels for sightseeing and watching marine fauna. The charm that southern right whales possess is of international relevance. This area of relative homogeneity includes the Valdés Peninsula and its fauna (World Heritage Site 1999, UNESCO). Its regional influence has favored the development of economic activity initiatives regarding tourism adding value to sand beaches (“Playas Doradas” in Río Negro province and beaches along the Golfo Nuevo in the province of Chubut)—among other landscapes represented by the Natural Recreational Resources (RRBN, in Spanish) variable—as well as rural and gastronomic tourist circuits that appreciate the religious and historical cultural heritage (Sociallybuilt recreational resources, RRSC in Spanish) of the Welsh colonies of Valle Inferior of the Chubut river (VIRCh), making cities such as Gaiman, Trelew and Dolavon to stand out. In the regional system, due to health facilities and career programs of higher education, Trelew has a clear hierarchy over the other urban centers within this area of relative homogeneity. It is followed by Puerto Madryn and Rawson, and in third position, by a relatively homogeneous group made up of the towns of Gaiman, Las Plumas, Sierra Grande and Dolavon. The health dimension (including health insurance coverage) and the education dimension (including access to complete primary education) in the census tracts that represent rural areas of extensive use are more vulnerable than in the irrigated agricultural valley floor and in the cities where these dimensions are clearly better. Furthermore, the variable of university population exhibits a core-periphery distribution in the cities of Trelew, Rawson and Puerto Madryn, with more favorable and homogeneous values in the cores.

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Developmentalist Policies and Regional Configuration

This Atlantic Ocean area of relative homogeneity has a fundamental internal factor that matches in the historical context of the territorial impact of developmentalist policies since the mid-twentieth century and, specially, since 1970s. These policies were related to projects that were, greatly, the driving force of employment sources, harnessing of resources and urban expansion of the region, whose historical dynamics has influenced on many variables considered here to analyze the environmental quality and quality of life. It is important to stand out, due to its regional influence, the establishment of the Industrial Park in the city of Trelew, especially targeted to wool farming, which is currently in stagnation due to various causes. It is relevant to mention the industry of metalliferous minerals represented by two big projects: the extractive mining development of iron in Sierra Grande (province of Rio Negro) and the big industry of production of primary and semi-finished aluminum in Puerto Madryn, the ALUAR Company, Aluminio Argentino SAIC and its deepwater port in Golfo Nuevo. The mining industry in Sierra Grande has experienced booms and busts that have limited the development of the city in terms of quality of life. For instance, in 1991 and framed by the neoliberal reforms of the national government, Sierra Grande staged one of the first Patagonian popular uprisings (puebladas) which added up to the problem of freshwater supply (Mare 2019). The systematization of the Chubut River thanks to the multipurpose hydraulic engineering work of the Florentino Ameghino dam (that started working in 1968) allowed the hydroelectric generation for the National Interconnected System, flooding control, low-water attenuation, regular water supply for the population, industries and the irrigation system.

1.4.3.2

Agricultural Development in VIRCh

Valle Inferior of the Chubut River has a regional difference in the wider context of this area of relative homogeneity. This is because of the historical process that human settlement and the development of the economic activity, sustained by the convergence of the coastal condition with port facilities to the Atlantic Ocean and the wide availability of fresh water together with the agriculture and livestock potential of the widespread fluvial terraces. The colonization of the Valle Inferior (Lower Valley) of the Chubut River started in 1865 with the arrival at Golfo Nuevo, currently Puerto Madryn, of the first 150 colonists coming from Wales, United Kingdom, who settled down in the valley and developed a cooperative way of intensive agriculture under irrigation, complemented by the livestock activity. Since the arrival of the railway to the town of Gaiman in 1909 and until the closure of the former Ferrocarril Central of Chubut in 1961, this means of transport was key for the economic expansion of VIRCh in its port connection. Since 1960s, an adverse trend started to gain prominence in the agricultural and livestock economy. As of 1980s, Bolivian orchardists migrated—mainly near Trelew

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and Gaiman—and introduced brand-new production systems in relation to the ones incorporated by the Welsh communities: more flexible expectations regarding the system of landholding and the ways of social organization with more particular characteristics of the farming community (Owen et al. 2007; Sassone et al. 2012). In the twenty-first century, other new social actors with more advanced technologies began to consolidate the production of cherries, apart from top fruits, berries and cherries, berries and table grape, targeted to the market, including exports. This spatial configuration of intensive agricultural uses and social diversification influences on the variables that make up the analyzed dimensions for the spatial characterization of the quality of life at a census tract scale. It is relevant to mention the relatively favorable position of the education dimension as well as the indicator of infant mortality rate. Regarding health, cultural and structural factors when providing services for rural areas impact on the adverse position of the values of the census tracts in the valley floor regarding the key variables such as lack of toilet seat, household crowding and lack of health insurance. The latter, to a great extent, is the corollary of an informal character that affects the economy of many families.

1.4.4 San Jorge Gulf Open to the Atlantic Ocean The San Jorge Gulf open to the Atlantic Ocean covers part of the southeast of the province of Chubut (South of Sarmiento and Escalante) and northeast of Deseado in the province of Santa Cruz. The regional structure that can be currently recognized has been defined at the end of the nineteenth century around the port area of the gulf, closely linked to the advancement of the internal frontier toward lands with agricultural and livestock potential (specially and at that historical moment, the recently created pastoral colony of Sarmiento founded in 1897) and facing the beginnings of the hydrocarbon exploitation in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia. The connection from the coast to the interior has been historically structured by two railway lines, relatively parallel between each other and separated by 150 km that were key for the regional development. In the south, the railway line of the city of Puerto Deseado, by the end of 1913, reached the town of Colonia Las Heras, but it stopped working toward the end of the 1970s due to decision of the military dictatorship. Since then, it is in the same condition even though it was intended to activate it. On the other hand, the railway from the city of Comodoro Rivadavia (which only reached the town of Colonia Sarmiento in 1912 and also was closed during the 70 s and is still disused), together with its tourist branch to the town of Rada Tilly, binded the port with the rich agricultural lands of the lower valley and the ancient delta (between the Musters and Colhué Huapí lakes) of the Senguer river. Both railway projects were originally aimed to connect the mountain range region, but it was never achieved. In this area of relative homogeneity, the road network is nowadays dominated by the north–south axis represented by the Atlantic road of the National Route no. 3 and

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two east–west axes, adjacent to the ancient railway track, toward the north (Chubut) by National Route no. 26 and toward the south (Santa Cruz) by Interstate 43. These railways together with the ancient train stations define the distribution patterns of the clustered centers of population combined with the development of port facilities: Puerto Antonio Morán (in Comodoro Rivadavia), Puerto Deseado and Puerto Caleta Paula (all of them are ports).

1.4.4.1

The Regional System of Urban Centers

The organization of the regional system has evolved toward a connected model, standing out two hierarchical cities which are highly linked between them by complementary functions. The rest of the system is connected to these two cities by the help of satellite centers specialized in hydrocarbons or in agriculture and livestock economy located at the lower valley of the Senguer river (Sarmiento) and port economy (including Puerto Deseado). The city of Comodoro Rivadavia precedes and is the second most populated city in Patagonia that, in its conurbation with the town of Rada Tilly and according to official estimates, by 2018 it would have achieved 225,000 inhabitants. This city gathers 58% of the total amount of clustered inhabitants in this area of relative homogeneity and together with Caleta Olivia, they gather 76% of this total, making up the most important axis of the region. Besides, the city of Las Heras, in Santa Cruz province, also plays a key role in the region and, with 17,821 inhabitants according to the 2010 census, it breaks the record of population increase with a 73% of total rate. Regarding the part of this area that is located in the province of Santa Cruz, the city of Caleta Olivia constitutes the center of the regional system that, even though it has a quarter of the population comparable to the conurbation of Comodoro RivadaviaRada Tilly, is ahead in terms of demographic expansion that is accounted for 40% in the annual rate. Moreover, there are paramount indicators regarding the economic and commercial activities that reflect upon the complexity of Patagonia.

1.4.4.2

Quality of Life

The influence of the hydrocarbon activity regarding the market of formal employment in the rural areas constitutes a necessary factor for the interpretation of the favorable spatial distribution that the variable of access to health insurance takes up. On the contrary, the situation turns into a problem in the urban peripheries of towns and cities, expect for Caleta Olivia. These features, part of the health dimension, are closely related to household overcrowding. In general, this area of relative homogeneity presents the best values for the rural area that is directly influenced by Caleta Olivia and average levels in the case of the surroundings of Comodoro Rivadavia. These rural areas have few residents, but have a great quantity of hydrocarbon facilities with different characteristics, where technical and professional employees work for

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their functioning and maintenance, which, in turn, improve the results of the census. Toward the South, the rural area that covers Interstate 43 between Puerto Deseado and Pico Truncado, outside the aforementioned facilities, presents a steep decline in the values of such variables. Regarding education, this variable related to the university level stands out in the majority of petrol cities. Comodoro Rivadavia, housing the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco—and Caleta Olivia, housing the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, constitute the most efficient axis of academic studies for the professional training in the region. These universities have more than 60 undergraduate programs, but Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco has more diversity and career choices. In the case of Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (UACO-UNPA), it offers programs related to the main economic activities of the region and has branches in the towns of Pico Truncado and Las Heras. Comodoro Rivadavia, Caleta Olivia, Pico Truncado and Puerto Deseado represent urban centers that have enough equipment to guarantee access to education which goes along with the development of the system of Internet connection and access to digital information. In the lower agricultural valley of Senguer and the city of Sarmiento, the situation is different as the weight of the population with complete university studies declines in comparison to other urban centers. This regional system suggests an ongoing loss of internal continuity regarding the quality of life index and other specific dimensions. With regard to this aspect, the northern sector, covering Caleta Olivia and Las Heras, makes the difference as it shows more favorable conditions for the urban area (except for the peripheries of Comodoro Rivadavia) and rural area. On the contrary, toward the south of Pico Truncado, the influential rural area of Puerto Deseado exhibits the poorest levels of quality of life index of this area of relative homogeneity. However, the urban area still remains in a favorable situation.

1.4.5 Tierra del Fuego At the southernmost tip of Patagonia and the continent, this area of relative homogeneity is found belonging to the Argentine sector of the island of Tierra del Fuego. It is a well-known territory in the continent by European travelers because it constitutes a geographic reference spot for long voyages. The first aboriginal inhabitants of this territory were the Yámanas, Kaweskar and Selk’nam communities that adapted themselves to the harsh weather conditions. The first permanent settlement by Europeans started at the end of the nineteenth century when two coast guard branches were founded by Augusto Lasserre in 1884, one in San Juan del Salvamento (Isla de los Estados) and other in the bay of the South coast of Isla Grande that would eventually evolve in the city of Ushuaia (Mastroscello 2008). Later, in 1921, Colonia Agrícola Pastoril Río Grande was founded pursuant to a decree signed by Hipólito Yrigoyen, the President of Argentina. Nowadays, it is the most populated city of the province.

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After the outbreak of a strong livestock sector, these two cities began to have important population dynamics toward the end of the twentieth century. The State development pursuant to National Law 19,640 in 1974 accounted for the industrial development, among other aspects, of the National Territory and sustained growth of the population in Río Grande until the National Territory was transformed into the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur in 1990. Ushuaia was also affected by that law and later, in 1980s, by the development of tourism (Wallingre 2004), enhancing its position as a coastal center ( foreland) that spatially attracts and distributes the tourism flows toward the interior of the territory, the Antarctic and Patagonia (Mosti 2010). In both cases, huge immigration movements were registered, specially from other provinces of the country, steadily increasing the population in Tierra del Fuego, particularly in its two big cities. Consequently, by 2010, 65.1% of the total amount of inhabitants of the province were immigrants (Hermida et al. 2013). Nowadays, the population is mainly clustered in two cities: Rio Grande and Ushuaia, which had 66,475 and 56,593 inhabitants, respectively, according to the 2010 census. The third populated city to highlight is the town of Tolhuin, with 2626 inhabitants.

1.4.5.1

Quality of Life

At a general level, it can be argued that the two big cities have good quality of life indexes, placing most of their urban tracts in the two most favorable quartiles. This allows us to assert that the majority of the population of Tierra del Fuego lives in sectors with good and excellent quality of life. Other specific aspects show slight differences. Regarding education, a small percentage of population does not have completed primary studies; only some tracts that are far away from the cities, with a small population, show a relevant situation. The percentage of population with university degrees behaves similarly, even though the values decrease in the urban peripheries in comparison to the urban tracts of the city cores. Parameters referred to housing are good in general, bearing the clear variables in the urban peripheries of these two big cities. The variable referring to housing without a toilet seat demonstrates a very unfavorable situation in the rural tracts close to big cities; and the variable referring to overcrowding shows good and excellent results in the whole province, pointing highly unfavorable specific situations for neighborhoods of Río Grande (in the South and West) and in the north of Ushuaia. Variables related to the environment also reflect a negative contrast only in some urban areas. The south of the city of Río Grande presents a huge surface affected by flooding, but it is not worrying. This behavior of the results is quite similar to the analysis of the variable of population close to a landfill site. Finally, when the focus is placed on the population living in shanty towns, we find that this variable is present in the before mentioned cities: in Ushuaia, toward

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the north of the city, there are unequal situations in the neighborhoods; and in Río Grande, toward the South, as it had other negative aspects mentioned before. As a conclusion, the tracts of the province reveal a heterogeneous situation with unfavorable results, mainly in rural tracts with a large surface, but with fewer population. Other worrying results are the ones present in the urban peripheries of Rio Grande, and to a lesser extent, of Ushuaia. This aspect should be specially taken into account in the State plan to make cities grow and in case of a possible impairment process of economic activities that could impact on the population of these affected neighborhoods. In the rest of the province, there is a Quality of Life Index with generally favorable and highly favorable values in most of Río Grande and most of Ushuaia.

1.5 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with Standard and High Levels of Quality of Life in Areas of Diverse Economic Activities and Territorial Integration 1.5.1 South Atlantic: Bahía Grande This area of relative homogeneity is found in the continental southernmost part of Patagonia. The north includes a coastal path developed toward the east of the National Route no. 3 in the department of Corpen Aike (including one section of the city of Magellan’s up to Puerto San Julián—7894 inhabitants—and San Julián bay). The southern part of this area covers a huge extension of the department of Güer Aike shaped in the north by a relatively coinciding position with the path of Provincial Route no. 5, fluvial valley of the Coig river (Coyle) and of the northern tributary, the Pelque river. It is the main lamb farming sector of the province of Santa Cruz that covers around 50% of the total of the province, distributed in agricultural facilities that have from 2500 ha and more than 230,000 ha (Sturzenbaum 2013). The road network of this area of relative homogeneity presents a tract design with low density of secondary roads toward the rural interior, which is centered in Río Gallegos (95,769 inhabitants), main political and administrative center. It is, without any doubt, the most hierarchical city of the spatial group, highlighting subordinate centers like Luis Piedra Buena (6405 inhabitants), Puerto Santa Cruz (4431 inhabitants) and Río Turbio (8814 inhabitants). There is a noticeable dispersion and distance (more than 250 km) between the centers of greater scale. The regional configuration is defined specially as a frontier area, in the context of the geopolitical importance of the strait of Magellan (in the Republic of Chile), which in the east it allows a sea connection with Tierra del Fuego, and in the west, it links Río Turbio with Puerto Natales, and from there, by land with Punta Arenas in the neighboring country. The east of this area of relative homogeneity is influenced by the National Route no. 3 as the key connection axis with ports. The commercial orientation in the north is

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mainly targeted to shellfish and frozen meat, whereas in the south, the influence of the economies of hydrocarbon and coal extraction takes predominance. The southeast of this area of relative homogeneity, covering the Mar Argentino (the Argentine Sea), is conceived as one of the three most important areas of hydrocarbon extraction in Patagonia: the Cuenca Austral Marina on shore and off shore. Rural areas with less population density (for the respective census tracts present an average of 0.05 inhabitants/km2 and a total of 1589 inhabitants, according to the 2010 census) are characterized by the presence of ranches (historically devoted to lamb farming; some of them have, nowadays, turned into agrotourism) and big plots of land, making a difference from the surrounding areas of relative homogeneity, especially with “Areas of relative homogeneity with a regional disarticulation and adverse indicators of quality of life” that will be discussed later. Except for these general references, it is the spatial continuity and some other factors that stand out when analyzing the quality of life, which accounts for the shape of this area of relative homogeneity because these spaces are heterogeneous and disarticulated in their interiors. The socio-economic situation includes two zones with high quality of life indexes: the coastal areas surrounding the National Route no. 3 and the southern and western border. On the other hand, the interior part of the plateaus (the ones that surround and partly make up the middle basin of the Coig river) is characterized by more adverse situations, even though we must take into account its current condition of transit areas that are scarcely populated (411 people; 33% lives in the unique agglomerated center, La Esperanza, and the rest was rural population spread around 13,000 km2 ). Regarding education, the population variable with university level is presented with null values at a census tract scale. An equivalent spatial distribution is registered for education before primary education, matching both variables with the stratum of the poorest situation at a national scale. Regarding health and housing, the consideration of infant mortality rate at a departmental level blurs the differentiation that is being made with a relatively regular position in the national group. Some variables, such as the lack of health insurance or the proportion of houses without basic equipment like toilet seats, are placed in the worst values at a national level, which, in turn, make the difference with other interior sites of the plateaus. The census tracts coinciding with border areas of big ranches and coastal zones show a slight improvement. In this case, the registered values for overcrowding are not so negative comparison to the established ranges by quartiles according to the total amount at a national level.

1.5.2 Northeast of Río Negro Province Its closeness to the Pampas region enabled us to find the oldest city of Patagonia: Viedma, founded in 1779, next to the Negro river and together with its neighboring city on the opposite river bank, Carmen de Patagones in Buenos Aires province.

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Nevertheless, its closeness and earlier urbanization did not spark a such urban development equivalent to other areas of Patagonia. Due to its natural features, this zone represents a fringe of transition between the Patagonian steppes and the Pampas areas. The topography in this place tends to be flatter and rainfall increases toward the east, which has enabled the development of rain-fed agriculture in most of this zone. Regarding the economic characteristics of the area, Tagliani (2014, p. 6) defined it as a region that involves “islands” of development with poor connection among them and among their agents. Other existing activities in the zone are: fishing linked to Puerto San Antonio; port activity in the latter (relevant in the export of agricultural products of Alto Valle and Valle Medio); tourism pretty stable in the city of Las Grutas (4807 inhabitants); salt and limestone mining and industrial production of sodium carbonate in San Antonio (16,265 inhabitants). Regarding fishing and livestock farming, they are present in the zone, but they are not relevant activities in the economic dynamism of this area of relative homogeneity, not even at a provincial level. The agricultural activity is relevant in the areas related to irrigation works over the valleys of the Negro and Colorado rivers near General Conesa (5484 inhabitants) and Río Colorado (11,733 inhabitants). This diversity of activities and their differences regarding development and disconnection contribute to an internal disparity in the quality of life perceived in the tracts, showing heterogeneous situations that are mainly identified in the urban tracts. In general, tracts exhibit an average and high quality of life index, without extremely negative values and with excellent indexes in some areas of the main cities. Regarding specific aspects, the environmental dimension is good in all the area; it barely exhibits low or average values related to the variables of closeness to landfill sites, floodings or existence of shanty towns. Education and housing in the rural tracts are not good regarding the selected variables. This is linked to the lack of development of agricultural areas in the zone. The differences and distances among the urban areas of this area of relative homogeneity (Viedma, Río Colorado, San Antonio Oeste, Las Grutas and Conesa) deserve to be discussed separately. The quality of life index in Las Grutas and San Antonio is an average one, but the values do not reach other cities of Patagonia. Urban development and the possibilities that cities offer in these zones are less than the consolidated urban areas like the conurbation surrounding the city of Neuquén or the urban systems connected with Trelew or Comodoro Rivadavia. However, the maximum and minimum values are not so radical or contrasting between the peripheries and the core of each city. Only Viedma, the most highly populated city of this zone (52,789 inhabitants), presents values of quality of life index higher than 8 points in its historic city center. Similarly to rural tracts, urban tracts do not present low levels regarding the environment. Peripheries as well as the rural tracts close to cities exhibit deficient characteristics regarding housing. The same deficiency is noticeable regarding education, except for Las Grutas, a tourist attraction, or El Cóndor, a beach resort, where the values are slightly more favorable.

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Regarding health (characterized by health insurance coverage), most of the population in the city of Viedma display high values; however, some peripheries have low coverage. This is due to the job stability that the city offers thanks to its administrative functions. A similar situation occurs in Río Colorado. In the rest of the cities (Las Grutas, San Antonio Oeste and General Conesa), the situation is less favorable for the population. We find average and low values regarding health insurance coverage. To conclude, the diversity of activities and the differences between cities and zones of this area of relative homogeneity clearly impact on the general quality of life.

1.5.3 Andean South Occupied by Large Lakes and Glaciers This is one of the remotest zone of the big centers and capital cities in Patagonia. It exhibits a dynamism and growth mainly backed by tourism. The city of El Calafate was founded in 1927, mainly devoted to wool farming. Despite its livestock farming origins (related to the European settlement), the zone started to adopt a more tourist profile. Some facts aided this change, such as the creation of the Parque Nacional (National Park) Los Glaciares in 1937 that, due to a change in the land possession system, was granted to the National State, highlighting its fundamental presence in Patagonia (Artesi 2003). The fact that Santa Cruz was granted the status of province and the establishment of the National Park as a World Heritage enhanced the tourist profile of the zone where the main landmark was represented by glaciers, big lakes and wild landscapes of the mountain. Currently, the cities of El Calafate and El Chaltén are the main centers and tourism is the most important source of revenues (Norambuena 2008). Such cities keep a dynamic demography, which has permanently grown in population. El Calafate grew from 6410 inhabitants in 2001 to 16,655 in 2010; a process which has doubled the amount of people between censuses. At a lower scale, but with a higher intensity, El Chaltén has greatly surpassed its population in 2001 when it had 371 inhabitants, reaching 1627 in 2010 (more than four times its population). This population growth, due to the arrival of new settlers, should be accompanied by elements that generate sustainability or improvement in the conditions and the quality of life of the population. Even during the high season, the demographic peak could trigger different problems for the urban plan. This is why it is important to analyze how this situation is given a spatial form in this area of relative homogeneity. In this way, we can obtain the following characteristics related to the observation of information by census tract. All the values of the quality of life index surpass 7 points. That is to say, it is clear that there is a high quality of life index. Nevertheless, this must be checked with the edges among population densities of different tracts. Tracts with less density, the rural ones, keep a high quality of life. Among the small amount of this type of tracts, the ones located at the west present a quality of

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life index slightly higher due to the presence of some ranches, currently devoted to a type of very exclusive tourism. Regarding specific aspects, there are differences as regards education: rural tracts have an important percentage of population without complete primary education. Regarding urban tracts, the ones belonging to the city of El Calafate do not exhibit values that are highly contrastive between the maximum and minimum. All these tracts have a high quality of life index (higher than 7 points) with a slight difference. The ones located at the core of the city have higher levels, whereas the ones located in the peripheries exhibit lower levels.

1.5.4 Northern Internal Hydrocarbon Area It covers the northern central part of plateaus consistent with the geological formation of the basin in Neuquén, which is rich in different types of hydrocarbon resources. It includes the departments of Pehuenches and Añelo in Neuquén and General Roca in Río Negro. There are four urban centers (closely linked to the city of Neuquén) that must be highlighted in this area of relative homogeneity. It refers to the cities of Neuquén: Cutral Có-Plaza Huincul (an agglomeration that has 48,637 inhabitants according to the 2010 census), Rincón de los Sauces (19,398 inhabitants) and Añelo (2689 inhabitants, datum that does not register the demographic incentive that the city acquired after the last period of hydrocarbon booming in the region) and Catriel, a city in Río Negro province, (17,584 inhabitants). It is an area that stands out due to its extractive energy potential; the cities do not relate among them as an organized system; and the rural areas are strongly affected by the hydrocarbon activity in terms of environmental damage, new territorial dynamics and persistent emerging conflicts with indigenous communities. As a corollary of the boom of the hydrocarbon industry, profound changes of the regional space, with distinguishing characteristics and in different historical periods of the activity, were introduced together with an administrative, financial and industrial complexity in the cities that emerged or that were influenced by the gas and oil exploitation. Such changes did not affect in the same way to all sites of this area of relative homogeneity; for instance; the constitution of Neuquén as a province and developmentalist policies at a national level in the mid-twentieth century fostered significant investments in the town of Plaza Huincul. Besides, neoliberal policies and the withdrawal of the State from production in the 90 s sparked up town movements and social crisis in this city and in Cutral Có (Colantuono et al. 2004). Recently, the boom of unconventional hydrocarbons, since 2010, led to a rapid growth of the city of Añelo, a growth that did not necessarily involve improvements in the quality of life of its inhabitants. Therefore, the different ever-changing circumstances existent in the hydrocarbon industry impacted positively or negatively on the different zones of this area of relative homogeneity. The ups and downs match with the noticeable

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disparities in the dimensions that make up the quality of life in the sector. Regarding education, the population of rural tracts does not have complete primary studies or never did it (the most unfavorable quartile); other cities present better values, but not good enough. Only in Cutral Có and Plaza Huincul we find, in some neighborhoods, values that belong to the best quartile in this aspect. The variable referring to people that have university studies exhibits a similar situation; however, the situation in bigger cities is more favorable. The towns of Cutral Có, Plaza Huincul, Rincón de los Sauces and Catriel have in its urban area, at least, two tracts whose values are placed in the best quartiles. This is related to the dynamics and characteristics that are developed in this city, which need professional guidance. Regarding housing, it is spatially different. Regarding houses that do not have toilet seats, there is a considerable disparity between the rural areas, with low values, and urban areas which, in turn, exhibit average and high levels. This difference between urban and rural is not clearly identified when analyzing the overcrowding variable. Rural areas present average and low values, but without a homogeneous pattern. In the peripheries of urban areas of big cities, there can be seen neighborhoods with worrying values. To conclude, the whole area present low levels of quality of life; only some urban tracts of Catriel and Plaza Huincul have high levels and only a few tracts reach the most favorable quartiles.

1.5.5 The Interior of Neuquén Province Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the capital city of the Territorio Nacional (National Territory) del Neuquén was set up in the northwest of Patagonia (the city of Chos Malal was founded in 1887), but, during the following five years, the greater extra-regional dynamism in the zones of the south of the province heightened by the improvements of railway works would determine that, by 1904, the capital city would be moved to the place where the Limay and Neuquén rivers meet in the emerging city of Neuquén. Nowadays, more than 130 years after its foundation, the ancient capital city, Chos Malal (with more than 13,000 inhabitants according to the 2010 census), in the province of Neuquén, occupies the sixth place in the hierarchy of the provincial urban system (Mare and Cappelletti 2016), and maintains itself as the structuring agent of the north, historically linked to the extensive livestock farming. This city is located close to the place where the Neuquén and Curi Leuvú rivers meet; it is immersed in a semi-arid landscape of low “Serranías” (mountain ranges) tectonically folded, heading to the eastern shadow of the marvelous Cordillera del Viento. At this last area, the paths of adventurous mountaineers and of tourists, looking for the curative benefits of thermal waters in Aguas Calientes and Los Tachos, intersect with those of nomadic families that, over generations, have migrated every season in summer to make a special use of the forage in high “mallines” (wet lands) for their bovine and caprine herds.

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The great structural valley of the high Neuquén River (developed toward the south flanked by the Cordillera del Viento to the east and by the southern spurs of Cordillera Principal to the west) is home to many small cities, towns and rural locations that organize the rural area characterized by the ancient transhumant practice of livestock farming. These centers are the ones that, due to their services and infrastructure, grant values of quality of life relatively more favorable to the census tracts of their area of immediate influence. In the regional aspect, the city of Andacollo (2653 inhabitants) supports Chos Malal in terms of the hierarchy of the regional aspect and, together with the towns of Huinganco (1010 inhabitants) and Las Ovejas (1316 inhabitants) make up an axis of economic activity that, in general, is marked out by a slow, but growing tourism incentive. Its astonishing landscape potential, its cultural and religious heritage expressed in different popular festivals of the region make up San Sebastián, in January, one of the most visited ones. Harsh winters and many other deficiencies in infrastructure, road equipment and network have affected the development of these spaces through decades. Toward the south, the city of Zapala (32,355 inhabitants) functionally emerges due to many factors that make up this urban center the most hierarchical one in the interior of Neuquén. Its strategic position in the spatial center of the territory, as a historical convergence zone of roads—and, currently a zone of convergence of provincial and national roads—was possible, originally, because of the presence of water springs in the distal positions of the large basaltic plateau in a context of great extensions in natural semi-arid systems. This relative localization factor was key, not only for the development of population from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, but also for its establishment as a rest area of livestock herds in transit from the low and arid zones of the winter heading to the mountain range crossing pursuant to the strong commercial links with Chile. Due to the extension of the railway tracks to the city of Zapala in 1913, the role of the city would acquire a hierarchy as it allowed the connection with the thriving region of Alto Valle of the Negro river, and from there, to the Atlantic markets (Bandieri 2005). Therefore, the city of Zapala, by the twenty-first century, was strengthened in its regional function as the second most important city in the province of Neuquén (Mare and Cappelletti 2016) and claimed to be a logistics, commercial, administrative and stock center for the agricultural and mining sectors. After more than one hundred years of mismanagement of extensive grazing (mainly caprine, and to a lesser extent, bovine, ovine and equine), desertification, similarly to many other Patagonian areas of relative homogeneity, is one of the biggest environmental problems. In general terms, for this area of relative homogeneity, there is a predominant rural character, where the results for housing, health and education dimensions are adverse. The great size of some census tracts, mainly rural, which include some small populated centers (with better living conditions), desensitizes the precarious situation of the rural scattered population, comparatively less in quantity.

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For the main cities, though presenting better results in their rural contexts, the values of the quality of life index are not placed in the quartile of best situation at a national level. Additionally, the spatial distribution of the index to the interior of the urban area does not register, in general, situations that highly contrast with the social inequality.

1.5.6 Main-Road Towns: South Line of Río Negro and North of Chubut These continental internal spaces of Andean Patagonia gather four established areas by the line hinge of small cities (with less than 7000 inhabitants) and rural towns located along the four main routes that make up the regional network of provincial and interprovincial traffic. Three of these routes, from the east to the west, link this area of relative homogeneity to the Atlantic Ocean and the mountain range, whereas the fourth route, from the north to the south, links the aforementioned through the western sector. These systems of urban centers, arranged in a linear way, joined by the main traffic roads, structure and, at the same time, are influenced by the regional dynamics of the north of “Areas of relative homogeneity with a regional disarticulation and adverse indicators of quality of life” corresponding to the internal territories of the semi-arid plateaus of Patagonia (see the following section). Before the “military Desert campaigns” at the end of the nineteenth century, the organization of indigenous societies achieved an important regional dynamism due to the nomadic practices that become complex with horses—and the possibility of traveling longer distances with goods—and the bovine livestock with the resulting economic diversification and, in particular, of the commerce between different influential areas (Pérez de Micou and Castro Esnal 2007). Besides, those dynamics facilitated the connection of these societies with travelers and Welsh communities of the lower valley of Chubut. In these large extensions of land, where aridity is more noticeable when you are far from the mountain range toward the east, the presence of foreign rivers, springs, watersheds and shallow lakes (many of them are associated to geological structures with potentials to make up underwater aquifers, such as the huge basalt layers of the Somuncurá tablelands) has been key for the nomadic human settlement and the spatial movement, a matter that Arias (2004, p. 73) summarized in the idea of “subsistence Geography”, based on the ecological knowledge of the environment. The early introduction of the livestock by the indigenous societies and the later creole expansion of ovine farming (after the “military Desert campaigns” carried out by the national State to take control of indigenous territories), in the early twentieth century, led to a new functionalization of the rural spaces and established the regional economic orientation, founded in extensive livestock, for almost a century. After one hundred years, the adverse effects of land mismanagement and the structural

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impossibility of reaching constant profit rates precipitated a crisis, almost definite, of the ovine livestock. Due to its transit nature between the most dynamic regions of the mountain range and the Atlantic Ocean, the territories included in this area of relative homogeneity were historically subject of special interest for the planning of a regional link, since the first railway projects (Law on Fostering National Territories) in the early twentieth century (Bandieri 2009; de Jong et al. 2017), up to the plans of bioceanic corridors with a multimodal integration almost 100 years later. The influence of the mountain range region—whether by the economic expansion of tourism or by the cross-border influx with Chile and with the Pacific Ocean’s economies—targeted the definition of specific functions of the provision of services along the routes for some cities, specially toward the north, structured by National Route no. 237 (parallel to the Limay river), where the town of Piedra del Aguila leads the spatial group. Axis of National Route no. 237, Neuquén province: The hydraulic potential of the Limay River gave it importance. In 1966, Energía Eléctrica de la Nación (AyE, S.A.) was in charge of the works in Chocón-Cerros Colorados which were carried out by Hidroeléctrica Nordpatagónica (HIDRONOR). The construction and functioning of hydroelectric works of Pichi Picún Leufú, Piedra del Águila and Alicurá is a key factor for the understanding of the historical dynamics of the northernmost axis of this area of relative homogeneity. Axis of National Route no. 23: toward the south, and parallel to the aforementioned axis, rural towns and small cities of the Línea Sur (South Line) of the province of Rio Negro embody the natural landscape of this area of relative homogeneity. The regional system of human settlement is structured by a linear pattern that is connected by the historical railway from the town of San Antonio Oeste to the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, which is, nowadays, known as the “Tren Patagónico” (Patagonian Train) and along Interstate 23. It is made up of small urban centers that do not have more than 7000 inhabitants, individually, and rural towns that have an average of 450 inhabitants. It is estimated that the total population is 23,000 inhabitants (according to 2010 census). The region of the South Line has undergone, in the early twenty-first century, widely known processes of functional redefinition of it"1.1.1. TheoreticalMethodological-Grounds" should be: 1.2. "1.2. Methodological Usefulness of the Concept ..." should be: 1.2.1. "1.5.4.1. The Interior of Neuquén Province" should be: 1.5.5. "1.5.4.2. Main-Road Towns: South ..." should be: 1.5.6.s territories, denoting visible consequences in the transformation of the social and spatial organization in rural and urban sites in the context of the stagnation of extensive ovine livestock farming. New strategies are focused on the expansion of the tertiary sector and the territorial structure at an urban level (CFI 2017); the boom of other activities, such as the mining of rocas de aplicación (non-metalliferous rocks generally used for construction), tourism development in protected natural areas (the Somuncurá plateau, the “Bosque Petrificado” (Petrified Forest) of the town of Valcheta, and the lagoons of Carri Laufquen), among others.

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Under such circumstances, there has been a demographic growth during the last few years in the towns and cities of the South Line which had more than 500 inhabitants (Ramos Mexía and Sierra Colorada, Jacobacci, Maquinchao, Los Menucos and Valcheta), whereas smaller settlements, in general, force people to move out (Sierra Pailemán, Nahuel Niyeu, Comicó and Aguada de Guerra) (Mare et al. 2019). Chalde (1988), Steimbreger and Kreiter (2009), and Bendini et al. registered trends related to migration, aging and abandonment of farms (2008). Axis of Provincial Route no. 4 of Chubut: Finally, the last axis toward the south covers the foothills of the geological basalt structures of Somuncurá plateau in the province of Chubut, more specifically in Comarca de la Meseta Central. Gastre (602 inhabitants), Gan Gan (661 inhabitants) and Telsen (544 inhabitants) are towns that stand out and are linked among them by Provincial Route no. 4 (unpaved road with permanent traffic). Regarding education, it presents unfavorable values in comparison with the national scale. In what concerns to housing, the influence of the lack of toilet seat is a common factor in the whole area; whereas overcrowding is not a problem, which may be the result of the demographic movement from rural sites and small towns. Regarding environment, values are not disquieting in spite of being a region that has gone through serious weather events; for instance, the impact of volcanic ash fall, long periods of drought, heavy rain, among others. All these weather events have affected rural life and have deepened the current critical situation of extensive livestock. Finally, the quality of life index holds average and low values. Adverse values are present in the South Line.

1.6 Areas of Relative Homogeneity with a Regional Disarticulation and Adverse Indicators of Quality of Life Index 1.6.1 Main Plateaus of Patagonia This area has been described in terms of its homogeneity related to space settlement, economic activity, geographic isolation, weather-related risks and quality of life as the composite indicator. The latter is notably adverse in comparison with the other results in Patagonia. It includes large rural extensions of the interior of the provinces of Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz which are scarcely populated. It includes small towns, villages and rural sites, distant among them, and geographically isolated and affected by the stagnation and deterioration of the traditional economies based on extensive livestock. This area of relative homogeneity does not possess a hierarchical structure of urban centers. In fact, it can be considered subordinated to the regional influence of other areas of relative homogeneity or considered as relatively isolated sites. Most of the settlements do not have more than 700 inhabitants according to the 2010

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census and bear basic functions of services for the rural population, mainly targeted to ovine and caprine extensive livestock or for other populations that have recently strengthened their positions due to mineral exploitation. In this group, the cities of Los Antiguos (3363 inhabitants) and Perito Moreno (4617 inhabitants) in Chubut and Gobernador Gregores (4497 inhabitants) in Santa Cruz are clearly distinguished by their hierarchies. Road network in these large extensions of semi-arid land is limited. The coastal area lacks big ports and the extension of its cliffs makes the access quite difficult. In the whole area of relative homogeneity, the continental conditions determine wide annual temperature range. In winter, there are harsh temperatures and weatherrelated risks, becoming stronger due to the winds from the west and snowfall. Similarly to “Areas of Relative Homogeneity of Main-road towns: South Line of Río Negro and the North of Chubut”, hydrogeological characteristics determined the settlement pattern and spatial mobility during the indigenous period and the first decades of colonization of pasture. As a group, regarding Río Negro and Chubut, the total current population in agglomeration is 31 villages and small rural towns that add up to 6500 inhabitants. If the scattered population is added to the aforementioned datum, the demographic density is 0.04 inhabitants/km2 (inferior to the great region of Siberia in the Russian Federation with 0.36 inhabitants/km2 ). A rural exodus from villages and communities to towns of greater hierarchy or to big regional urban centers is registered. On the southern part of the Patagonian plateaus, towns do not have more than 300 inhabitants (for example, Buen Pasto, Facundo and Lago Blanco in Chubut or Bajo Caracoles, Lago Posadas and Tres Lagos in Santa Cruz province). They are far from each other, approximately 160 km. They are weakly integrated as a small group of big towns and small cities that have gained hierarchy as a spatial group, whether because of incipient activities like mining or because of the regional demographic change that has accelerated the concentration in small and medium towns. Toward the south, Gobernador Gregores in Santa Cruz is the clearest example of Patagonian distances and spatial fragmentation of the network of cities. From there, it is necessary to travel 190 km to get to any populated center with more than 500 inhabitants or a minimum of 400 km to get to any urban center with a higher hierarchy. Nevertheless, its relative position as an administrative, logistics, services and equipment center for the thriving mining activity of the region is reflected upon the best values of quality of life index in this area of relative homogeneity. Regarding the agricultural rural sector, there are some farms that still work on both sides of National Route no. 3 and Provincial Route no. 25 plus some lands of belonging to the Benetton Group on both sides of the meridian 68°30' (Andrade 2012), where the living conditions are relatively more favorable, registered by the quality of life index at a census tract level. In remote sites from the aforementioned road network, desertification and depopulation acquire an irreversible effect; nevertheless, this does not impact on the quality of life index as, sometimes, one tract involves this duality and, at the moment of the census it does not account for the historical process of depopulation.

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Such common factors for the whole area of relative homogeneity derive from the combination of extremely poor living conditions, geographic isolation, historical existence of unequal ways of access to suitable lands, adverse ways of commercial introduction of small and medium producers, permanent contradiction between production expenses, minimum size of pens, subsistence living and limited livestock receptivity of the lands. The social and ecological problem of desertification is exacerbated by the influence of other natural phenomena. Considering the last twenty years, the northern sector of this area of relative homogeneity has experienced: droughts during six years in a row (Río Negro 2011); the accumulation of a great amount of volcanic ash as a corollary of volcanic eruptions happened twice (Puyehue in 2011 and Chaitén in 2008) on the mountain range in the western areas; fires (2003) and heavy rain (March 2012, April 2014, October 2016, among others). During that time, these natural extreme events brought about a decrease of more than one million sheep in the total amount of the province (Télam, 27/02/2018). The productive and economic consequences of the so far developed problem explain the adverse trend regarding the quality of life of this area of relative homogeneity.

1.7 Relationship Between the Regional Phenomena and the Quality of Life The late twentieth century and early twenty-first century were conditioned by the growing magnitude of the breach of economic dynamism corresponding to the consolidation of the spatial model of population in agglomeration, outsourcing of the economic activity and rural depopulation (Kloster and Saint Lary 2004; Bendini et al. 2008). The traditional rural sites are more and more relegated in a polarized society and fragmented territories (Schweitzer 2004; de Jong 2001). The consideration of these variables related to quality of life, at a block and tract census level, clearly accounts for the differentiation of these sites regarding urban areas that structure the regional dynamism. The physical road network also tends to enhance this dual model, determining the development of economic activities for the rural areas that are far from the most hierarchical centers. There are dynamic sites linked to the national and worldwide economy which have deepened an enclave economy based on the exploitation of energy and mineral resources. These processes impact on the society and are evidenced in the results of the different variables and dimensions that make up the quality of life index for all these areas of relative homogeneity. According to the analysis of many areas of relative homogeneity, it has been verified that there is a link between the type of economic activity and the quality of life in those sites. The economic development, mainly tourism, influences on the possibilities that the populated centers have to achieve higher values in the quality of life index. In the areas of relative homogeneity where the driving force of the economy

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is tourism, it is found that, in general, there is a high quality of life index in urban and rural areas. Some examples are: Andean Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Andean South occupied by large lakes and glaciers. Cities from other areas of relative homogeneity (whose global outcomes are not so favorable) fit into the pattern, such as the case of Puerto Madryn, Playa Unión, Rada Tilly, Balneario El Cóndor, among others, valuable sites for tourism and leisure activities. The pattern is different for other areas of relative homogeneity with great economic dynamism (associated to extractive economies) linked to a national and international scale, containing big cities (considering the Patagonian urban scales), with growing trends for the urbanization process and mostly targeted to the administrative and financial sectors. In these cities, there is a core-periphery model regarding the outcomes of the quality of life index, where the conditions in the historic cores are prosperous, while the conditions in the periphery are disquieting as inhabitants experience social vulnerability and environmental problems, a matter that is exacerbated in bigger cities. Focusing on rural tracts, the results are from average to low. The list of areas with relative homogeneity included herein, in descending order, pursuant to the pattern, is the following: Alto Valle and Valle Medio of the Negro river, San Jorge Gulf open to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic Coast: Valdés Peninsula and VIRCh, South Atlantic: Bahía Grande, Northeast of Río Negro and Northern Internal Hydrocarbon Area. The remaining areas, in general, register economic stagnation conditions and regional disarticulation. There are medium to small cities which are mainly rural and their economies are weakly linked to a national or international scale. In these areas, the outcomes of the quality of life index are floating. Large spatial extensions do not bear good outcomes of the quality of life index and its dimensions, but large rural areas exhibit worrying values due to the retraction process of the long-standing key activities and clear trends of depopulation. This group does not aim to be unquestionable, but it tries to show how some characteristics connect the territorial development with the quality of life. All these disparities identifiable at many scales confirm the existence of a heterogeneous Patagonia in its interior, a site where contrasting realities coexist.

References Andrade L (2012) Producción y ambiente en la Meseta Central de Santa Cruz, Patagonia austral en Argentina: desencadenantes e impacto de la desertificación. Ambiente y Desarrollo 16(30):73– 92 Arias F (2004) Toponimia y percepción geográfica en las sociedades indígenas de la Patagonia y las pampas: análisis de las categorías lingüísticas (siglo XVIII). Boletín Geográfico 25:55–87 Artesi L (2003) Desarrollo local y redes: el turismo. El caso El Calafate. Unpublished Magister Thesis in Local Economic Development, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, together with the Universidad Nacional de Rosario. ISBN No. 987-43-6624-9. Rosario, Argentina Bandieri S (2005) Historia de la Patagonia. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 448 pp Bandieri S (2009) Pensar una Patagonia con dos océanos. El proyecto de desarrollo de Ezequiel Ramos Mejía. In Quinto Sol, no. 13, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, pp 47–72

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Bandieri S, Blanco G (1998) Pequeña explotación, cambio productivo y capital británico en el Alto Valle del Río Negro (1900–1948). In: Quinto Sol, Revista de Historia Regional, Año 2, Nº 2, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa Bendini M et al (2008) Dinámica sociodemográfica de los pueblos rurales de la Línea Sur rionegrina. Boletín Geográfico. 31:159–177 Bondel CS (2011) La Patagonia andina ‘de los lagos’ (Argentina). Aportes geohistóricos para la interpretación identitaria en la Araucanía-Norpatagonia. In: Floria N, Delrio W (eds) Cultura y Espacio. Araucanía-Norpatagonia, 1st edn. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. San Carlos de Bariloche, pp 42–76 Capua O (2007) Sistemas naturales de la Patagonia. In: Godoy Martínez C (ed) Patagonia Total Antártida e Islas Malvinas. Ediciones Barcel Baires Colantuono M, Saint-Lary B, Pérez G, Vives G (2004) Globalización y nuevas modalidades de desarrollo regional y local. In Mundo Urbano. Nro 6. http://www.mundourbano.unq.edu.ar/ index.php/ano-2000/42-numero-6--octubre/144-2-globalizacion-y-nuevas-modalidades-de-des arrollo-regional-y-local de Jong G (2009) Geografía, Método Regional y Planificación. Editorial Catálogos. Buenos Aires de Jong G, Mare M (2016) La Región Patagónica. In Velázquez, G., Geografía y calidad de vida en la Argentina: análisis regional y departamental, 2010. IGEHCS/CIG, Tandil, pp 283–322 de Jong G, Bessera E, Mare M (eds) (2017) Comisión de Estudios Hidrológicos. Bailey Willis 1911–1914. El Norte de la Patagonia. Tomo II: Estrategias y Proyectos. Neuquén: convenio APN-CONICET-UNComa, (1era ed.) EDUCO editorial universitaria. http://rdi.uncoma.edu.ar/ handle/uncomaid/6826 Hermida M, Malizia M, van Aert P (2013) Migración en Tierra del Fuego (o la historia de una ida y una vuelta). Sociedad Fueguina (2). Year 01. November 2013. Document of the Instituto de Cultura, Sociedad y Estado. https://www.aacademica.org/marianohermida/11 Kloster E, Saint Lary B (2004) Concentración urbana y vaciamiento rural. Heterogeneidad del crecimiento urbano en el período 1991–2001 en Río Negro y Neuquen. Quintas Jornadas Patagónicas de Geografía. UNPa. Río Gallegos Mare M (2019) Planificación fragmentaria y manejo de recursos naturales en el este rionegrino. Crítica Regional. Boletín Geográfico 41(2):39–58 Mare M, Cappelletti V (2016) Metodología preliminar para la jerarquización de Centros Urbanos. Argentina. Neuquén. Trabajo presentado en las 3ras. Jornadas Académicas de Estadística. Geoestadística, organizadas por la Sociedad Argentina de Estadística, Gobierno de la Provincia del Neuquén, las Facultades de Economía y Administración y el Departamento de Geografía de la Facultad de Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue Mare M, Tosza N, Pringles Barroso V (2019) Relevamiento exploratorio de tierras con potencial fisiográfico para su sistematización bajo riego. Línea Sur de la provincia de Río Negro. In: Cadiz A, Brouchoud S (Compilators) Contradicciones del desarrollo y horizontes alternativos. Neuquén, EDUCO, pp 337–345 Mare M (2012) Aportes metodológicos para el análisis de las condiciones sociales en el uso del recurso tierras y los consecuentes procesos de degradación. El caso de la Sierra de Catán Lil: cuencas del río Kilca y del arroyo Covunco. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Argentina Mastroscello M (2008) La economía del fin del mundo. Configuración, evolución y perspectivas económicas de Tierra del Fuego. ISBN-13: 978-84-692-0006-3 Mosti P (2010) El alcance de las actividades turísticas y recreativas en los espacios naturales del hinterland de Ushuaia—Tierra del Fuego—Argentina. In: Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo, vol 19, pp 516–533. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3352218 Norambuena M (2008) La actividad turística en la provincia de Santa Cruz y su impronta en el espacio. El caso de El Calafate y El Chaltén. Boletín Geográfico 31:489–506 Owen M, Hughes J, Sassone S (2007) Migración y dinámicas rurales en el Valle Inferior del Río Chubut. In: IX Jornadas Argentinas de Estudios de Población. Asociación de Estudios de Población de la Argentina, Huerta Grande, Córdoba. https://www.aacademica.org/000-028/63

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Pérez de Micou C, Castro Esnal A (2007) Los caminos indígenas. La ruta Gan-Gan/Gastre (Chubut). In Aquí Vivieron... Arqueología y ambiente en Patagonia, Buenos, Aires, AINA, pp 9–28 Pérez G (2018) La conurbación en torno a la ciudad de Neuquén. Perspectiva regional y aportes para el ordenamiento territorial. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis in Geography. La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina Pérez G (2018) La conurbación en torno a la ciudad de Neuquén: Perspectiva regional y aportes para el ordenamiento territorial. Unpublished Graduation Thesis. Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Memoria Académica. http://www. memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/tesis/te.1583/te.1583.pdf Perrén J, Lamfre L, Pérez G (2016) Diferenciación socio-espacial en las ciudades intermedias argentinas. Una aproximación a la conurbación de Neuquén en el cambio de siglo”. In: Revista Estudios Sociales Contemporáneos No. 13, IMESC-IDE-HESI/Conicet, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, pp 73–95 Río Negro (2011) La zafra confirma uno de los peores pronósticos. https://www.rionegro.com.ar/ la-zafra-confirma-uno-de-los-peores-pronostico-PQRN_763873/ Sassone S, Owen OM, Hughes J, Weise S, Estrella C, Velásquez M (2012) Pioneros de la globalización: horticultores bolivianos en la transformación del territorio del valle inferior del río Chubut. In: Monti A, Alcarraz G, Ferrari MP (coord) Miradas geográficas de la Patagonia. Encuentros con la investigación y la docencia. Edupa-IGEOPAT, Trelew, pp 211–226 Schweitzer AF (2004) La Patagonia, la crisis y el des-ordenamiento de los territorios. Párrafos Geográficos II (3):117–128 Steimbreger N, Kreiter A (2009) La paradoja de los pueblos rurales de la Línea Sur rionegrina: entre la desaparición y el crecimiento. In X Jornadas Argentinas de Estudios de Población. Asociación de Estudios de Población de la Argentina, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca Sturzenbaum MV (2013) Los productores ganaderos ovino—extensivos y la adopción tecnológica en el sureste de la provincia de Santa Cruz. Andrade, L. (Tutor). Graduation Thesis for the title of Specialist, Universidad de Buenos Aires, in Rural Development, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Graduate School, p 83. http://ri.agro.uba.ar/files/download/tesis/especi alizacion/2013sturzenbaummariavirginia.pdf Tagliani P (2014) Hechos estilizados del desarrollo económico de la provincia del Río Negro. Revista Pilquen. Sección Ciencias Sociales. Año XVI(2) Vapñarsky C (1982) Un área metropolitana singular: el Alto Valle de Río Negro y Neuquén. In: CIFCA/CLACSO. Medio Ambiente y Urbanización. Buenos Aires Velázquez G, Mikkelsen C, Linares S, Celemín JP (2014) Calidad de vida en Argentina: Ranking del bienestar por departamentos (2010). Universidad del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil, Argentina Wallingre N (2004) El turismo como factor de reconversión productiva local en la ciudad de Ushuaia, República Argentina. Turismo y Sociedad 3:86–95. https://revistas.uexternado.edu.co/index. php/tursoc/article/view/2227

Marcos Damian Mare Professor and graduate in Geography at National University of Comahue (UNComa); PhD in Social Sciences from the National University of Luján. Currently serves as exclusive regular adjunct professor and researcher (category III SPU); Director of the Department of Geography; Director of the Patagonian Research Laboratory for Environmental and Territorial Planning (LIPAT) at FaHu-UNComa. His research on Patagonia revolves around spatial planning in two axes interrelated in a multiscalar way: on the one hand, regional dynamics of organization and territorial inequity and, on the other, environmental and geomorphological problems derived from the use and management of natural resources and desertification. Germán Gabriel Pérez is a professor in Geography at the National University of Comahue and Doctor in Geography by the National University of La Plata. He was a doctoral and post-doctoral fellow of CONICET between the years 2013 and 2020. Researcher of the National Council of

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Scientific and Technical Research with place of work at the Patagonian Institute of Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (CONICET/National University of Comahue). He is Adjunct Professor of the Department of Geography, Faculty of Humanities (UNCo). Member of the editorial board of the magazine Boletín Geográfico of the same University and researcher at the Patagonian Research Laboratory for Environmental and Territorial Planning. Specialist in the field of urbanization processes and urban-environmental problems, applying methodologies related to cartography and Geographic Information Systems.

Chapter 2

The Pampean Region Guillermo Angel Velázquez, Néstor Javier Gómez, and Adela Tisnés

Abstract This chapter analyzes the quality of life in the Pampas region based on the weighted combination of socio-economic and environmental indicators. Although the Pampas region is located in a relatively favorable position with respect to the national group, the various subregions that make it up: all of them, the Pampa Ondulada, Pampa Deprimida, Pampa Surera, Costa Bonaerense, Patagonia Bonaerense, Pampa Gringa, Chaco Santa Fe, Sierras Pampeanas, Delta, Lomadas Entrerrianas, Pampa Alta and Pampa Seca, present important differences. These inequalities are reflected through different variables related to education, health, housing, environmental problems and recreational resources. The synthesis of this situation is the Quality of Life Index, whose map accurately portrays the magnitude of the socio-territorial differences. Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Pampas region · Subregions · Counties

2.1 Introduction Into the mosaic of regions that make up Argentina, the Pampean region is one of those that possess, in global terms, the highest degree of relative development. Its hegemony throughout the formation of the national system, particularly associated with the agro-exports model, has contributed to forging a positive image concerning the rest of Argentina’s regions. This hegemony has reached such a point that, in many academic analyses, it is common to contrast the Pampean economy on the one hand, and the extra-Pampean economies (including the rest of the country), on the other. This distinction has been G. A. Velázquez · A. Tisnés (B) National University of the Centre of the Province of Buenos Aires, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] N. J. Gómez National University of the Litoral. National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Santa Fe, Argentina © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_2

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pointed out for several years now by well-known authors (Giberti 1984; Flichman 1977; Barsky 1991). It is based on the greater relative strength of the Pampean economy, characterized by a diversified structure with a strong capacity to export. In contrast, the extra-Pampean economies are more vulnerable and dependent, in general, on one economic sector or type of product and are preferably oriented toward the domestic market. Other authors (Rofman 1999; Manzanal and Rofman 1989) have also pointed out this historical contrast. Similarly, the popular expression “Buenos Aires” on one hand and the “Interior” on the other is commonplace. The first category includes not only the “porteños” (both those people living in the city port and also those living in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area) but also those who live in the plains and the Pampean highlands of Buenos Aires. This (largely pejorative) expression contrasts them with those Argentines who, even further away from the centers of decision-making and power, have the perception—in some cases justified—of not receiving what “regionally” corresponds to them. This conceptual confusion between the “regional” and the structural (social, economic, and political) is often exploited by power groups living in the peripheral regions to increase their benefits. By way of example, in provinces as poor or neglected as Formosa or Salta, a provincial legislator in the early years of the twentyfirst century received an allowance that far exceeded that of his or her equivalent in the Province of Buenos Aires or the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires; the same occurred in other areas, such as the justice system or provincial executive powers. Unlike in other cases, where doubts about “regional identity” are often raised, all geographers, planning agencies, and society, in general, recognize the existence of the Pampean region. This may seem paradoxical if we consider that its population shows a lower degree of regionalism or localism than that of other regions of Argentina, probably due to the historical relationship of hegemony exercised by privileged social sectors of the Pampean region concerning the national system. This is reflected on two levels: on the one hand, “regional hegemony” does not imply the need to “close ranks” in defense of “regional interests”, as is the case in other regions, and, on the other hand, the hegemonic sectors of the region, due to their common interests with foreign capital, have historically been more “universalist” in their approaches. This is particularly notorious in the province of Buenos Aires. The regional identity of Buenos Aires is a process that has been attempted to force through since the provincial administrations of the 1990s (provincial governors Duhalde and Ruckauf) using symbolic elements (the creation of a flag that was already created) or “sporting feats” (Buenos Aires Olympic tournaments). This region, in general terms, includes the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos (dismembered from the historical Mesopotamian region), Santa Fe (mainly the center and south), Córdoba (mainly the southeast) and La Pampa (especially the eastern sector). The latter province has expressed, especially since the 1990s, its “Patagonian vocation”. It is not difficult to discern whether this “vocation” is the product of a “spontaneous” identity or a deliberate construction of the provincial hegemonic sectors in an attempt to appropriate some of the benefits that the Patagonian region obtains as a poorly populated and strategic regions, such as higher salaries, lower energy costs (fuel, electricity) or more significant investment in housing.

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The region has a high proportion of the urban population: 94.5%, according to data from the last census (INDEC 2010); and the urban centers that organize the Pampean territory are notoriously hierarchical (Table 2.1), taking into account widely used urban categories (Vapñarsky and Gorojovsky 1990; Roccatagliatta 2008). There are 31 Agglomerations of Intermediate Size (AIZ), of which five are larger—with more than 400,000 inhabitants—and 26 are intermediate—with between 400,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. Three of the five largest AIZ are capitals of their respective provinces: Córdoba, La Plata, and Santa Fe. The 53 intermediate AIZ constitute a very heterogeneous group of cities: some are provincial capitals (Paraná), others are provincial economic centers (Mar del Plata, Bahía Blanca, Río Cuarto, or Rafaela), while the rest are urban centers with a notorious capacity for regional influence and which have historically shown an important urban dynamic. From a morphological perspective (Zárate Martín 2012), Pampean urban centers are generally characterized by a checkerboard layout, with a central square surrounded by the municipality, the church, and other important institutions. In small cities, there is generally a contrast between the “center” of the cities and the neighborhoods, reflected in their social structure and the differences in services and urban infrastructure. Historical elements, such as the railway, have been responsible for some of these differences, stigmatizing with expressions such as “on the other side of the tracks” those areas of the cities with less development. Roads through cities also contribute to this representation and, in some cases, constitute real urban barriers. In intermediate-sized agglomerations (AIZs), this dichotomy between center and periphery appears to be crossed by fragmentation, leading to the emergence of highincome residential sectors in areas far from the historical “center”. Thus, in the Pampean region, not only the larger AIZs—Gran Córdoba, Gran Rosario, La Plata, Mar del Plata or Gran Santa Fe—but also the intermediate ones, such as Campana, Tandil, Bahía Blanca, Río Cuarto or Paraná, have gated communities. In general, the grouped rural population (living in areas with less than 2000 inhabitants) has a higher proportion of services than the dispersed rural population (living in “open country”). However, the situation is very heterogeneous, as living conditions depend on elements such as the provision of electricity and the distance to permanently passable roads, schools, or health insurance. Accessibility to fuel supply (petrol stations) and, fundamentally, to mobile phone signal, an element of modernity vital to mitigate isolation, also play an essential role. In the interior of the Pampean region, beyond a particular preliminary positive vision in global terms, it is possible to distinguish sectors or sub-regions. As we shall see, these sectors do not coincide with political-administrative boundaries, although, to order our exposition, we shall base ourselves on a preliminary scheme according to three groups of provinces, according to their degree of centrality in the region: (1) Buenos Aires (2) Córdoba, Santa Fe and (3) La Pampa, Entre Ríos. In turn, we can define the following sub-regions (Map 2.1).

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Table 2.1 Pampean agglomerates of 20,000 or more inhabitants, according to categories Categories and subcategories

No. clusters

Agglomerates (in population order)

Population (2010)

Category II Larger ITAs (400,000–1,500,000) Intermediate ITAs (50,000–399,999)

5

Greater Cordoba, Greater Rosario, Greater 4,587,188 La Plata, Mar del Plata, Greater Santa Fe

26

Greater Bahia Blanca, Greater Parana, 2,621,799 Greater Rio Cuarto, Greater San Nicolas de los Arroyos, Tandil, Greater Santa Rosa, Villa Maria-Villa Nueva, Reconquista-Avellaneda, Rafaela, Pergamino, Olavarria, Junin, Necochea-Quequen, Gualeguaychu-Pueblo General Belgrano, Concepcion del Uruguay, Venado Tuerto, San Francisco-Frontera, Viedma-Carmen de Patagones, Villa Carlos Paz-San Antonio de Arredondo, Villario Icho Cruz, Mercedes, San Pedro, Chivilcoy, General Pico, Azul

53

Alta Gracia, Villa Constitucion, Villa 1,661,792 Dolores-Villa Sarmiento-San Pedro-Villa de las Rosas, Jesus Maria-Colonia Caroya, Tres Arroyos, Rio Tercero, San Pedro, Gualeguay, Esperanza, Cosquin-Santa Maria de Punilla-Bialet Masse, Balcarce, Bell ville, Nueve de Julio, La Falda-Huerta Grande-Valle Hermoso, Chacabuco, Chajari, Casilda, Bragado, Rio Segundo-Pilar, Villaguay, Trenque Lauquen, Victoria, Pehuajo, Cañada de Gomez, Lobos, Lincoln, Marcos Juarez, Baradero, La Paz, Mar de ajó-San Bernardo, Arrecifes, Colon, Dolores, Bolivar, Miramar-El Marquesado, Nogoya, Salto, Saladillo, Villa Gesell, Coronel Suarez, Veinticinco de Mayo, San Justo, Arroyito, Colon, Las Flores, Coronel Pringles, Arroyo Seco, Dean Funes, Sunchales, Pinamar, Laboulaye, Vera, Crespo

Category I Small cities (20,000–49,999)

Source Personal elaboration based on INDEC data (2010)

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Map 2.1 Pampas region: regional subdivision. Source National Census and personal elaboration

2.1.1 Buenos Aires: Also Known as the “First Argentine State”, It Has Had a Decisive Influence on the Rest of the National System Although the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (RMBA), which includes the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and several functionally annexed districts of the first, second, and third surrounding belts, is located in the province, it has weight and peculiar characteristics that lead most geographers to consider it separately. In this work, we have adopted this criterion. This area is surrounded by the Rosario—La Plata belt or undulating Pampa axis and by the Paraná Delta, which transcend provincial boundaries. The undulating Pampa is precisely characterized by its gentle relief, a product of fluvial modeling. It is the area with the oldest European settlement and led, together with Córdoba, the process of industrial expansion in Argentina during the import substitution period. Except for the cities of La Plata and Campana, the cities followed the checkerboard plan, surrounded by smaller field properties (“Quintas” and “Chacras”), imposed by the Spaniards. Only the “estancias” (or “ranches” larger economic units) were more elongated to have access to water for the livestock. This historically fluvial axis has significantly suffered from the effects of industrial reconversion between the mid-seventies and the nineties, despite which it continues to be one of the most excellent relative development areas. Its position is reinforced by the density of motorways, particularly between the cities of Rosario, Buenos Aires and La Plata, the presence of the Zárate—Brazo Largo bridge system (the nerve center of MERCOSUR, the South American Free Trade organization, composed of

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Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay), and the more recent Rosario—Victoria bridge. The asymmetrical maintenance of the infrastructure, until a few years ago, responded more to the pressures of exclusionary modernization than to the needs of the majority of the population. In recent years, efforts have been made to reactivate public transport, particularly the railway network. It is here where the highest technical, scientific, and information density is concentrated and where the highest population density in the region is highest. It is also clear that this space of modernity is subject to solid fragmentation processes, which increased primarily during the 1990s. The contradiction is expressed in the coexistence of modern industrial zones with obsolete productive processes that produce and continue to produce substantial environmental impacts, especially among the surrounding population. Thus, the old brick factories have left cavities, most of which were occupied by precarious housing, especially during the 1990s; the same was true of the private and privatized petrochemical industry, whose logic has been reversed with the recovery of YPF, the leading national oil company. Primary activities are, in general, intensive, in some cases with the presence of extra-regional labor and the use of greenhouses, particularly horticulture and the dairy agro-industry. Farm animals, pets (mainly dogs and horses), floriculture, etc., are also developed. Occasionally, these activities are complemented by rural tourism. On the other hand, the privatization of essential services during the 1990s, in a context of social regression, resulted in a more commodified geography. The coexistence of country clubs with precarious settlements is now almost familiar, especially on the outskirts of the cities of La Plata and Rosario and other intermediate cities such as San Nicolás, Campana, and Zárate. As these effects have strong spatial inertia, they are not easy to reverse. Three sectors can be identified along this axis. The one with the minor relative development is the southern one, between La Plata and the town of Pipinas, since it was there that a farming division devoted to livestock persisted for the most extended period. The Magdalena prison, with its extensive militarized areas and the ups and downs of tourist activity, whose beach resorts were severely affected by erosion when part of the sandbank was extracted and by pollution generated further north, did not contribute either. Recently, some municipal governments (particularly Ensenada) have made significant efforts to recover the historic river resorts for public recreation. Between La Plata and the Arroyo del Medio (a creek that composes the interprovincial boundary between the provinces of Santa Fe and Buenos Aires) is the most relatively developed sector of the axis, without, of course, escaping the exclusionary modernization that increased during the 1990s and whose logic is still in force to a large extent in territorial terms. This is where the most significant developments and industrial parks on the river axis are located and the most significant degree of real estate speculation. Finally, the Santa Fe sector, of agro-industrial origin, is positioned in an intermediate situation, also showing great contradictions. The hinterland of the Province of Buenos Aires was historically formed as a predominantly cattle-raising area within the Pampas region. This has influenced its spatial configuration, resulting from a settlement model in which many of the towns emerged for military purposes to support the expansion of the “white and European”

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frontier to the south and west, based on the rifle, the railway, and the telegraph. This process has generally implied a greater average distance between the cities of Buenos Aires province than between those of other Pampean provinces such as Santa Fe or Entre Ríos, where the agricultural colonies were more critical. Although this is the general pattern, in other areas of the province, particularly in the southwest, there were also more “settler” models of colonization, such as those of the French community in the town of Pigüé or the Volga Germans people in the vicinity of the city of Olavarría. The same is true of the localities of the respective districts/departments, which, in the case of the province of Buenos Aires, are more predominantly of the urban type. This initial process was later reinforced by the layout of the national and provincial main roads, which, with a logic very different from the railways, left out the vast majority of small towns, which were relegated to secondary accesses. Thus, although it may seem incredibly monotonous, it should not cease to amaze us to travel along the paved roads of the first Argentinian state and to cover average distances of 70 km between cities. Although the interior of the province of Buenos Aires, in general terms, appears to be in a relatively favorable situation, it has a notable exception: the so-called Depressed Pampas, which is located in the basin of the Salado river and the Vallimanca depression. This sub-region is characterized as an area with a predominance of cattle breeding to the east and wintering to the west, permanently preserving private property with wire fences, which were introduced very early in this area. Its characteristic landscape is extraordinarily flat and monotonous, only interrupted by planted hills, dune fields and water bodies, with some essential small lakes standing out on the whole, whose salinity increases toward the west. These lakes are an important attraction, but in some cases, they are threatened by the eutrophication process due to the evaporation produced by their vegetation. In addition to the problems of topography, poor infiltration, alternating floods and droughts, waterlogging and weed invasion, there is also the obstructive action of society and the absence of adequate technical solutions. In an attempt to solve the flooding problem, since the end of the nineteenth century, channels have been laid out in a west–east direction (with minimal gradient), but without removing the excavated material, which, in most cases, remains on the edges of the channels. Thus, in addition to the lack of gradient, these artificial watercourses have a sort of “lateral dams”, which make the weak runoff even more difficult. The inability of these channels to solve the flooding problems was increased by the subsequent laying of roads and railway embankments in a north–south direction, which, not having tunnels of the adequate section, further hindered the weak west– east runoff. Other proposals, particularly the local scientist Florentino Ameghino’s proposal to build channels to lower topography sites to accumulate water in reservoirs (thus managing better the cycles of flood and drought), would probably have been more effective in solving this problem. Conflicts of interest have arisen between individuals, localities, and municipalities that divert water elsewhere or have built defenses to preserve urban centers, further worsening the situation in their respective peripheries.

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As these problems are cyclical (flooding-drought), they occupy public opinion for a couple of years and are then put on the back burner by other issues that move up the agenda. All provincial administrations, especially since the 1980s, have promised to solve this problem. In the meantime, the declaration of emergencies that safeguard the interests of the complaining Buenos Aires landowners is recurrent, exempting or postponing their tax obligations, thus making the provincial tax structure even more regressive. Another critical problem is the inadequate handling and application of pesticides in this environment, as these harmful chemical substances accumulate and infiltrate the water table, significantly affecting the population’s health. Organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides act as antimicrobials, lice killers, ant killers, rodenticides, and vizcacha poison, both for the protection of cattle and sheep. Those who work with these substances and are bordering on illiteracy cannot take into account the indications and precautions written on the containers, which, once used, are often thrown directly into the river (Liberali et al. 1996). It is, therefore, not surprising that the depressed Pampa has the lowest life expectancy in the province of Buenos Aires (Otero and Velázquez 1995). Despite the relevance of the problems mentioned above, the worst of the difficulties in this sub-region result from the limited diversification and poor distribution of the means of production (basically land), typical of a traditional economic and social structure which, combined with all the above factors, constitutes an invitation to emigrate or else to resign oneself to an early (and therefore marginal) incorporation into the Economically Active Population (EAP). Those who are content with little accept the latter option and manage to subsist as rural laborers or live on “changas” (i.e., temporary or seasonal employment) since the other options (public employment, small business, or self-employment) are very restricted. For these reasons, too, the Depressed Pampa lacks essential towns. All towns show a predominantly flat profile, and the most dynamic nuclei are related to tourist activities or are located in areas of contact with other zones. Thus, historic towns such as Maipú or Dolores (despite the inauguration of a thermal center in 2019) still lack dynamism, either due to general factors of the sub-region or specific ones (in some cases, the layout of roads worsened the position of some towns, in others drinking water is very scarce). While the city of Chascomús is an example of relative dynamism due to the sports activities developed in its lakes or the town of Carhué concerning its curative waters and properties until the tragic floods of 1985, the same is true about the cities of Junín, Pehuajó or Trenque Lauquen which, being located on the edges of the sub-region, do not show such pronounced stagnation. Although the Depressed Pampa has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, the more excellent dynamics of the coastal sector led to the division of some of these territories related to summer sun and beach tourism. Thus, the districts of General Lavalle and General Madariaga lost their coastal areas during the 1980s, creating the urban municipalities and, subsequently, the districts of La Costa, Pinamar and Villa Gesell, constituting what we call the coastal Pampas. This sector is undoubtedly more dynamic than the interior, but the marked seasonality of its main activity, despite attempts at diversification, still generates severe problems of summer saturation and idle capacity

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during the winter. This coastline is strongly segmented, with beaches for the social elite (such as Cariló and Pinamar) as opposed to others that are extremely popular (Las Toninas or San Clemente). Toward the south of the Province of Buenos Aires is the southern Pampa, which comprises an area of mixed suitability (agricultural-livestock) with better socioeconomic and environmental conditions. The sub-region generally has excellent soils and good runoff and infiltration conditions, with a vast maritime coastline stretching from Mar del Plata to Bahía Blanca and including two mountain systems: Tandilia and Ventania, or northern and southern ranges. These systems emerge from the Pampas surface as islands and give them an original landscape, breaking the overwhelming monotony of the plain. Rainfall decreases from east to west in a slow transition to the dry, Dune’s Pampas. The rivers are generally short and low-flowing. There was a significant loss of biodiversity in this area. All manifestations of natural flora and fauna are almost relicts, as the extension of agricultural areas for sowing and competition with livestock reduced not only the original vegetation cover but also the environment suitable for the development of native fauna. The productive structure of this sub-region is more diversified. In the valleys, agricultural activities were traditionally developed: wheat fields, forage grasses, and natural pastures in alternating squares, complemented by excellent livestock, with sheep and cattle breeding; however, much of this diversification was replaced during the 1990s by technological packages of genetically modified soya and glyphosates (biocides), which are more profitable in the short term, but which increase technological unemployment and whose environmental impacts have not yet been evaluated to their full extent. In addition to traditional agricultural activities, manufacturing and service activities are added, especially in the main cities (such as Mar del Plata, Bahía Blanca, Tandil, Olavarría, Necochea—Quequén and Azul). Mar del Plata, the most important city in this sub-region, is a sort of “tourism capital of Argentina”. It also has a series of local industries, some related to this seasonal activity (food, textiles, construction) and others unrelated to it, leading to conflicts of interest between the different sectors. The image of the “happy city” is relativized by the strong urban social differentiation produced by the asymmetrical appropriation of wealth between different social groups. Thus, in various EPH measurements, Mar del Plata was among Argentina’s cities with the highest unemployment. Bahía Blanca, a city that once aspired to be the capital of a “new province” (if the province of Buenos Aires was to be sub-divided), also competed with the cities of Alto Valle del Río Negro and Neuquén for primacy over the Comahue region, established as a development region by CONADE in the 1960s. It stands out for its port complex and its petrochemical pole. The city of Tandil had a traditional metallurgical industry, which went bankrupt in 2018, and is being revitalized by the expansion of services, particularly tourism. The three cities mentioned are also home to two national universities. The city of Olavarría is noted for its mining and construction industries. NecocheaQuequén is an important port that receives considerable summer tourism. The discovery of hot springs in the locality of Médano Blanco was not aimed at generating a complementary tourist offer in winter but rather as an enclave for high-income

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sectors. Finally, in Azul, the administrative and service sector stands out. These cities also have diverse university activities. Although this sub-region is generally dynamic, there are differentiated processes within it. On the one hand, technological unemployment in the agricultural sector affects the small towns and villages of the interior to a greater extent, especially those lacking tourist attractions. On the other hand, the extensive coastal strip implies a seasonal employment possibility whose epicenter is Mar del Plata. However, it also includes other traditional summer centers such as Necochea, Miramar, or Monte Hermoso and some alternative, wilder centers in the districts of San Cayetano, Tres Arroyos, and Coronel Dorrego. Although not yet of sufficient demographic magnitude, some resorts have pretensions to secede from their respective, original districts (Claromecó and Balneario Oriente, for instance). Society exhibits a certain degree of contradiction between the traditional, i.e., the village, and the acceptance of the exclusionary modernization processes established during the 1990s, which is difficult to reverse. Despite the claimed dynamism and prosperity generated by the countryside, the level of job creation and the quality of jobs are still deficient. During the conflict with the agricultural employers in 2008, it was common to see rural laborers, domestic workers, and urban sectors with a low level of education at the “camionetazos” (gathering of pick-up trucks) in solidarity with the demands of the self-styled “mesa de enlace” (i.e., linking committee). If it were not for resisted state intervention, the pay and conditions of rural workers would remain at even lower levels. In other urban activities (both public and private), a high proportion of clientelism persists over competence and equal opportunities. To complete this geography of Province of Buenos Aires, it remains to mention the extreme southwest of the province (the town of Carmen de Patagones). This sector, known as “Buenos Aires Patagonia “, is limited in its productive capacity due to the soil type and the decrease in rainfall. There are, however, agricultural production processes with hiring extra-regional labor and some encouragement from tourism. In general, the province’s medium-sized towns and cities have experienced significant dynamism, especially during recent intercensal periods, while villages and small towns remain stagnant or in decline.

2.2 Córdoba and Santa Fe Provinces Both provinces are among those with the highest levels of relative development. Although the economic structure of these jurisdictions has stood out in the Argentine context for its diversification, the productive base of these provinces is based on a dynamic agro-industrial sector. Cereal and oilseed agriculture has been consolidated by the expansion of soybean cultivation over the last few decades. Its orientation toward the external market has boosted port complexes, with the emergence of numerous private terminals on the banks of the Paraná River, mainly in the south of Santa Fe province. In this way, the commercialization and industrialization of grains in the rail-port centers, together with the development of manufacturing in

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the large cities and agro-industry in the smaller ones, have boosted the economy of these provinces. Livestock farming has lagged in milk production and surface area, relegated to marginal lands and the island complexes of the Paraná River. The southeast of Córdoba and the center-south of Santa Fe are areas of mixed potential aptitude that emerged from the typical agricultural colonies of the “Pampa gringa” (i.e., European settlers; Gori 1964). This has implied a denser rural settlement pattern, reflected in a more excellent spatial distribution of small towns, villages, and dispersed rural population, with a dense network of roads and railways—most of which were dismantled, partially recovered between 2013 and 2015 and, since 2016, have been dismantled again, except in particular cases. This area is influenced by the La Plata—Buenos Aires—Rosario fluvial axis, which extends in two directions: toward Santa Fe and to Córdoba. The political geography of Córdoba reflects the need to organize a space rich in history and, therefore, with a greater density of localities. For this reason, in addition to the departments or counties (called “partidos” in the province of Buenos Aires), there are other smaller entities: the municipalities and communes. The province is divided into departments and districts for cadastral purposes, some of which date back to the Spanish Viceroyalty (i.e., between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries). In 2001, the provincial constitution was reformed. One of the noted points was the proposal for a new political division of Córdoba based not on departments but regions. The departmental division of Santa Fe province shows a clear difference between the central and southern counties, which are smaller because they are typically Pampean (with the exception of General López), and those in the north, with characteristics of transition toward the Chaco or Northeastern Argentina. Because of this singularity, we define this northern sector of the province of Santa Fe as the “Santa Fe Chaco”. Given the high weight of the manufacturing sector in both provinces, the industrial reconversion process and the exclusion model of the 1990s have brought an unusual increase in urban marginality, especially in the outskirts of large cities such as Córdoba, Rosario and Santa Fe. This situation has improved very little in recent years, despite clear progress in the vast majority of the territory between 2001 and 2010. Santa Fe’s Pampa gringa has a temperate and humid climate, free of the problems that affect other areas (irregular rainfall or frosts). Since the average annual temperature increases toward the north, the hot period is much longer in the city of Santa Fe (characterized by hot and humid summers) than in Rosario or Buenos Aires (outside this sub-region). These temperature differences lead to staggered ripening periods for some of the vegetable crops typical of this area and allow access to extra-regional markets. Puddles, small lakes, wetlands and ravines characterize the province’s center, whose flat terrain is not very uneven. The ravines are Ancient River valleys that only carry water when it rains and is then dotted with swamps and marshes. In the context of the incipient agro-export model, toward the end of the nineteenth century, the creation of numerous agricultural colonies was promoted in this area: for instance, Esperanza (in 1856, the first colony of this nature in the country), San Carlos,

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San Jerónimo, Emilia, Sunchales, Rafaela -all in the central area of the province-, Santa Rosa de Calchines, Helvecia, Cayastá, and San Justo -in the central-northern region- and Venado Tuerto, Rufino, Alcorta -toward the south of Santa Fe-, to name but a few. The former was related to the advance of the Pampean frontier to the north and west, at the expense of the Chaco formations (which were the last refuge of the indigenous people until the beginning of the twentieth century), while the latter accompanied the laying of the railway. When ethnically differentiated groups colonized, each collectivity often originated with its service center. For example, San Carlos was made up of the south (Swiss and Germans), north (French), and center (Italians). Over time the groups have mixed and lost individuality. The leases of the southern pastures ranged from five to ten years; in the end, the farmer was forced to look for new land by moving further and further westward once he had prepared the pastures of refined grasses that would make livestock farming more profitable. In response to the demands of the tenant farmers, embodied in the so-called cry of Alcorta, there were some changes in this situation. During the 1940s, rural leases were extended, and during the 1950s, the subdivision of land was stimulated by the creation of conditions that allowed ranchers to decide to sell a fraction of their land to their former tenants. These new landowners turned to the dairy industry, and cooperativization processes arose, which contributed to improving their living conditions. This industry brought with it the capitalization and motorization of the producer, provoking a change of residence to nearby towns and villages. Precisely, a distinctive feature of the area of farms and dairy farms, with its land divided into smallholdings, is that the average distance between small villages and towns is relatively small (8–15 km), while the separation between larger towns does not exceed 50 km. Industrial districts or clusters emerged (Las Parejas and Armstrong in Santa Fe province) with a vigorous agro-industrial sector based on the production of agricultural machinery. Rafaela, “the pearl of western Santa Fe province”, stands out as an agro-industrial center located in the heart of the country’s most crucial dairy basin, where the town of Sunchales also stands out. Venado Tuerto, in the south of Santa Fe province, is a city that has become an outstanding regional service center and is home to an essential industrial activity. The city of Santa Fe, the province’s capital, and its metropolitan area are heavily influenced by the cyclical flooding of the surrounding rivers (Paraná and Salado del Norte), which is why defensive ring roads have had to be built. Its politicaladministrative profile characterizes Santa Fe province; although it was once home to a historic railway-port hub and a dynamic manufacturing center, it currently stands out as a service center (university-level education, health and commercial services). Moreover, its urban structure presents notorious contrasts between the center and the periphery, together with processes of urban fragmentation (Gómez 2011). The economic processes of concentration in the 1980s and 1990s had a substantial impact on urban centers, given the deterioration of manufacturing in the context of “convertibility” (i.e., the period when the exchange rate was artificially 1 Argentine Peso equal to 1 U.S. dollar, and on the countryside, due to the concentration of

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ownership, which caused severe damage to the majority of small and medium-sized producers in this area. In particular, the dairy industry has suffered a process of cartelization due to the hegemony of an extra-regional company that has imposed conditions that have led to the disappearance of many small dairy farmers. On the other hand, the concentration of marketing chains in the hands of hypermarkets (some of which sell their brands), the increase in the cost of credit, the imposition of tolls on national roads, and the discouragement of cooperative activity, among other factors, have caused severe damage to most small and medium-sized producers in the region, which has been partially reversed in recent years. The Santa Fe Chaco comprises the natural area known as “bajos submeridionales” (i.e., land depressions following the meridians; Manzi and Gallardo 1973). This region experienced a different and later settlement process than the rest of the province. It was invigorated by the “quebracho colorado” (i.e., a native hard wood tree) forests that characterized its eastern zone, toward the beginning of the twentieth century. This gave rise to a tannin exploitation system managed by the English-owned La Forestal company. As the resource was depleted, population centers sprang up and were left behind, with little chance of productive reconversion. Today, however, the towns of Reconquista and Avellaneda constitute important urban agglomerates that, in addition to being regional service centers, are home to a dynamic agro-industrial sector. In this region, agriculture is undergoing a process of soybean production, with the industrial crops of cotton and sugar cane being more relegated. The population remains sparsely populated, lacking transport infrastructure, so isolation prevails, and the average distance between major centers is over 150 km. As for the Córdoba sector, there are several similarities: the urban development of this area was boosted by the route of the Central Argentino railway in 1870. Railway crossings contributed to the articulation of the urban network: San Francisco in the north, Villa María in the center and Río Cuarto in the south are the main cities in this sector. San Francisco (Córdoba) forms an urban conglomerate with the localities of Frontera and Josefina (Santa Fe). Its main pillar is industrial activity, predominantly the production of agricultural machinery, auto parts, and household appliances, with leading factories in their fields at national and international levels. It hosts the headquarters of the National Technological University. Villa María is also a dynamic city in whose area the production of milk, cereals, meat, fodder, vegetables, oilseeds, leather, organic material, sand, and stone stands out. The primary production sector, as well as industry and services, are boosted by its location. In addition to the Technological University, it has its own National University since 1997. Finally, Río Cuarto is the second urban center of the province, constituting a commercial center for grains and the second-largest cattle market in the country; it also has its own National University since 1971. Another notable center is the town of Río Tercero, which provides tourist services and is home to a significant factory linked to the military industry, which has been dismantled since 2016. This industry also caused a tragedy when its arsenal exploded at the end of 1995, under still undetermined causes.

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The need for agricultural production gave new directions to industrial activity, promoting the installation of establishments producing agricultural implements and machinery on the Córdoba—Marcos Juárez line. Regional production is diversified—the plains of Córdoba alternate cattle breeding and wintering with traditional dairy farming. Cereals, fodder crops and sunflowers are grown in the eastern sector, conditioned by the hot summers and dry winters and the presence of loess dust and silt. The soils also select crops, such as peanuts, grown in the sandy areas of central Córdoba (the counties of Río Segundo and Tercero Arriba). Dairy farming has historically offered profitability and stability to many family farms. The organization of large regional industrial cooperatives has made it possible to produce dairy products and has brought together many small dairy farmers. In turn, establishing and consolidating farms and dairy farms create favorable conditions for pig farming, using dairy by-products and grain surpluses. Here too, the concentration processes suffered from the 1980s onward have been severely detrimental to the majority of small- and medium-sized producers who, paradoxically, have shown solidarity with the claims of prominent producers and are now suffering a severe crisis due to the shrinking domestic market since 2016. The provincial capital, Greater Córdoba, is located in the area of contact with the Pampean mountain ranges, which occupy the rest of Córdoba’s territory and extend toward the west. This historical and picturesque city, a road junction toward the Cuyo (Andean Argentina) and NOA (Northwestern Argentina) regions, has been nicknamed “la docta” (the learned one), as it has the oldest university in the country, founded by Jesuits at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its industrial structure is clearly outstanding in the national context, with the automotive, aeronautical, machinery, railway wagons, chemical products, paper and cardboard, and food and beverages industries standing out. Tourism, based on its cultural heritage with temples, convents, mansions from the colonial era, wide avenues, and beautiful parks, was boosted by the city’s cultural heritage development. This was followed by the ample development of its hotel infrastructure and road network. Despite this image, large sectors of the urban periphery show the other face of exclusionary modernization, revealing unacceptable living conditions for a large proportion of the Córdoba inhabitants, especially since the 1990s. During the last few years, this situation has not been reversed either; quite the opposite. The Pampean Sierras present such characteristics which are rich in contrasts, landscapes, and history that have made them worthy of the preference of vast tourist contingents since the beginning of the twentieth century. Among the mountain landscapes, crystal clear streams, and spas, countless historic villages face the contradiction of preserving their characteristics or submitting to the designs of modernity. Thus, packaged mass tourism coexists with areas destined for privileged sectors. The largest city in this area is Villa Carlos Paz, together with the towns of San Antonio and Villa Río Icho, linked to the provincial capital by an important highway. Situated on the San Roque Dam reservoir shores, it is a busy center, perhaps archetypal of what mass tourism represents, as it concentrates numerous student and package tour contingents.

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To the north, along the Punilla Valley, there are other localities, such as Cosquín, famous for its National Folklore Festival, La Falda, with numerous holiday colonies and an important commercial center, La Cumbre, with extensive residential villas, and Capilla del Monte, at the foot of Mount Uritorco. Nearby are the unusual rock formation of El Zapato and the thermal center of San Alberto (named as Águila Blanca). The city of Alta Gracia has a Jesuit “estancia” in the same city to the south and was home to famous people such as Manuel de Falla and “Che” Guevara, and the Los Molinos Reservoir, which in its 2500 hectares allows for fishing and nautical activities. In the Calamuchita river valley, Villa General Belgrano, highly commercialized and home of the National Beer Festival, and Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, which has preserved more rugged characteristics, preserving the best of the mountain landscape and Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, which has preserved more rugged characteristics, taking care of the best of the mountain landscape. Further south, the town of Embalse Río Tercero (a dam reservoir) with a 5400 ha lake, surrounded by a series of tourist villages, among which the Unidad Turística Embalse stands out, which has housed contingents since before the boom of mass tourism. One of the first nuclear power plants is also located here. To the west of this sector is the Traslasierra area. The route passes through the Pampa de Achala until it reaches Mina Clavero. This city is a traditional tourist center with streams, springs, and waterfalls, from which you can access several resorts with crystalline waters and fine white sands. To the south of Mina Clavero lies the locality of Nono, on the Allende Dam, and a succession of highly picturesque villages up to the border with San Luis province. The city of Villa Dolores is a service and industrial town. To the north of Mina Clavero, Cura Brochero and a series of beautiful villages are located, such as Panaholma. Further north Ambul, Salsacate (with a historical church), San Carlos, La Higuera, Villa de Soto, and Cruz del Eje, a center of olive and vegetable production and processing, are found. As we can see, the entire mountainous area is based on a combination of artisanal and productive activities forged over many years of history, which have been revalued by tourism. This phenomenon produces contradictory results since, beyond the overall dynamism, a large part of the dispersed population and the small villages see in the tourists only someone to whom they can beg, even if only a few crumbs, of what modernity seems to offer.

2.3 Entre Ríos and La Pampa Provinces Both these provinces are peripheral areas of the Pampean region. Entre Ríos had historically belonged to the Mesopotamian region, a formal geographical division no longer in use and whose geographical coherence was defined by its isolation. With the construction of the sub-fluvial tunnel (1969) and, fundamentally, the Zárate—Brazo

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Largo road and bridge complex (1979), this province was more clearly incorporated into the Pampean space, reinforced by the construction of the Rosario—Victoria bridge (2003). Framed by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, the conquest and settlement of Entre Ríos were closely linked to those of Santa Fe province. The valorization of its position on great navigable waterways allowed it, after emancipating from Santa Fe’s tutelage, to compete with Buenos Aires province and assume the capital of the Argentine Confederation in the city of Paraná, Entre Ríos province, sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century. In the configuration of the territory and society of Entre Ríos, the agricultural colonies of diverse origins (French, Jewish, German, etc.), which generated a process of diffusion in the population, played an important role. Its economic structure was historically biased toward the primary sector. Citriculture and poultry farming, pillars of the provincial economic structure in crisis during the 1990s, have recovered notably. The provincial productive matrix has diversified in recent years, with an agroindustrial profile and some enclaves linked to technology-based industries such as pharmaceuticals, bioengineering, and biomedicine. The provincial infrastructure has also increased significantly with major public works construction. There is also a sustained diversification of tourist activity which, in addition to the province’s traditional historical heritage, adds to the quality of its river beaches and thermal baths with growing repercussions in almost all of the province’s territory. In Entre Ríos province, there are two geographical sub-regions. On one hand, the “lomadas” (i.e., rounded hills), which cover the vast majority of the province, and on the other, the Paraná river delta, whose southern end extends into the province of Buenos Aires. The Entre Ríos hills are found across the province in a north–south direction, the largest of which are the Montiel and Grande hills, leaving gentle river valleys in between them. The climate of Entre Ríos province is temperate, with mild winters and regular rainfall. Taking an imaginary trip from the south, in the locality of Ceibas, Route no. 12 and Route no. 14 become divided, which articulates with the axes of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, respectively. From Ceibas to the northwest, we are at the southern limit of the hills. The towns of Gualeguay, Victoria, and Diamante, are located on this axis. Gualeguay is a service center for a rural area situated at a crossroads. Victoria is a traditional fishing village with extensive livestock farming on the delta islands. This traditionally isolated town is suffering from the impact of the bridge linking it to Rosario. Diamante is a traditional town located in the north of the delta, in an area of ravines, and has a deep-water port. Its relative stagnation must be linked to its proximity to the provincial capital. The city of Paraná is the oldest in the province. Its position was reinforced by the sub-fluvial tunnel linking it with Santa Fe city. Its urban plant is crowned by ravines to the north, which give it a typical characteristic to the landscape and preserve it from floods. On the banks of the Paraná, there are numerous clubs and river beaches.

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To the north and southeast of Paraná city, there is a succession of small towns, many of them emerging as agricultural colonies. On the axis of the Paraná river, there are no other essential towns, except for La Paz, the departmental capital, in transition to the Corrientes province area. In the far north, the town of Feliciano is a livestock service village. On the Uruguay River axis, several traditional citrus and poultry farming localities have been revitalized in recent years by tourism. The construction of the Salto Grande Dam forced a traumatic relocation of the city of Federación, but this disadvantage was partly compensated by the discovery of hot springs, not only for medicinal or passive use but also for recreational purposes. This resource was discovered on the other bank of the Uruguay river in the sixties (Termas de Arapey) and seventies (Termas de Guaviyú), trying unsuccessfully to find oil and gas. Exploiting the hot springs on the Argentine side only began in the 1990s. The first centers, from north to south, are Chajarí and Federación, both of which have excellent municipal thermal facilities (probably the best in the province) but suffer from a disadvantageous position relative to Buenos Aires. Agricultural colonies surround both. They are surrounded by agricultural colonies. Next is Concordia, which has one of the three international bridges in Entre Ríos, linking it with Salto (Republic of Uruguay). The driving force of this city has been citriculture, forestry, sawmills, rice cultivation, and livestock. Citriculture had suffered heavy concentration during the 1990s, so it was not surprising that Concordia topped the national unemployment rate. As a border city, it is subject to the Uruguayan peso’s ups and downs with the exchange rate. It has the contradiction of having one of the worst urban peripheries in the province, but at the same time, it has brilliant areas in the city (particularly its pedestrian center) and a thermal complex. One of the typical plant formations of the area is the palm groves, the preservation of which the El Palmar National Park is trying to guarantee. Near the town of Colón is the city of San José, the second agricultural colony in the country, where homage is paid in the Regional Historical Museum and where the National Colonization Festival is held every year. Villa Elisa has also gained notoriety for its thermal complex with salty waters. Agricultural colonies surround the whole area. Colón has a link with Paysandú (Republic of Uruguay), and in addition to the traditional river beaches, it also has a thermal center. Concepción del Uruguay, the former provincial capital, is a very picturesque city with a rich historical heritage. It also has fine sandy beaches, among which the Banco Pelay beach stands out. Finally, the city of Gualeguaychú was able to take advantage of its relative position to design an attractive package for the Buenos Aires and Rosario markets, combining the Ñandubaysal beaches, combining the beaches of the Ñandubaysal, the “Carnival of the Country” (displacing the traditional one in the city and province of Corrientes) and new thermal establishments. It also has an international bridge that links it with Fray Bentos (Republic of Uruguay). During the aforementioned “convertibility period”, many people in Entre Ríos resigned to seeing tourists pass over the

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bridges, with their final destination being Uruguay or Brazil instead. This situation has changed substantially in recent years. Beyond the coastal strips, the provincial interior is characterized by its gently rolling landscape, with imposing vegetation covering and wide distribution of rivers and streams and countless villages. Here the social structure is more traditional and is skewed by a primary productive base complemented by essential services. The Delta sub-region comprises a vast group of islands, islets, and marshes formed by the sedimentary material carried by the Paraná River from the neighboring Brazilian Planalto. It is an isolated area, as the predominant means of communication is by the river. Its sparse population subsists mainly on hunting, fishing, and other artisanal activities such as basket weaving. There is also a small group of salaried workers linked mainly to educational, health, and security functions. This sub-region had historically been diluted in the provincial political division since the Entre Ríos departments (counties) of Diamante, Victoria, and Gualeguay are projected, almost artificially, to the south. Since 1991, with the creation of the county of Islas del Ibicuy (a division of southern Gualeguaychú), it has been possible to capture part of the island’s reality statistically. The results obtained show that the living conditions of the delta’s inhabitants are still very precarious, as the possibility of providing education, health insurance or alternative livelihoods for them is ostensibly difficult. The area has site conditions that hinder development and the few works carried out (Zárate—Brazo Largo, Rosario—Victoria bridges) are simply to cross it as quickly as possible. The Delta sector of the Buenos Aires Delta presents slightly more favorable conditions, as it is more accessible from the north of Greater Buenos Aires, constituting a productive artisanal area but primarily a recreational and, more recently, residential area (nautical countries). La Pampa belongs to the group of new Argentine provinces since it was a National Territory until 1951. Its settlement is largely the result of geodesic political demarcation once the territory had been “emptied”, displacing the indigenous people southward. The alienation of land to finance aboriginal extermination was followed by the entry of railroads and the arrival of immigrants from the northeast, northwest and abroad. The combination of environmental problems, such as droughts, soil erosion, fires, and ash rains, with depressed prices in the 1930s led to the ruin of a large part of the settler farmers. After this traumatic process, population growth has been slow, with changes in the productive structure linked to agricultural mechanization, the growth of the provincial administration and the laying of paved roads, which led to rural–urban migration. From the 1960s onward, modern economic processes began, linked to the creation of the National University of La Pampa, the establishment of technical teams, and increasing urbanization. The management of water resources, however, is a problem and a source of conflict with the province of Mendoza, which, in the San Rafael—Malargüe area, captures a large part of the flows from the Atuel river basin, thus exacerbating the preexisting problems of aridity in the western Pampean region. We agree with Aráoz (1982)

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when he argues that the province is characterized by extensive agricultural activity, with a high standard of living at the price of low population density. There is a high proportion of middle-class people of rural origin with an urbanized lifestyle, except in the west of the province, where conditions are more adverse, and the social structure is generally more traditional. The province’s eastern sector belongs to the high Pampa domain, which also extends to the NW of Buenos Aires province. In this sector, which surrounds the Depressed Pampa, the problems of flooding have disappeared, but there has been a significant decrease in rainfall. Its traditional livestock fattening structure has been increasingly replaced by soybean plantations, thus increasing environmental problems and economic concentration. The vast majority of the Pampean territory coincides with the Dry Pampa, a relative expression since there are varying degrees of drought. Precisely, the political division of La Pampa province, despite its geodesic characteristics, reflects this phenomenon: the average surface area of the eastern counties is significantly smaller than that of the western ones. In addition to the drought, there is the characteristic of continentality, which implies an annual temperature variation. Absolute maximum temperatures of 42 °C on some summer days and − 10 °C on the coldest winter days are normal. The elevation of the terrain tends to increase toward the west, but the existence of deep valleys, with drops of up to 80 m, means that the ascent is not regular. Distance is a defining characteristic of the Pampean environment, with the monotony of the horizon (which could also be defined as “horizon charm”) as a permanent backdrop. Another notable feature is the absolute lack of rivers, partially compensated by the presence of relatively abundant but generally brackish or heavily salted groundwater. It is shocking to note the contrast between those who have the resources to buy drinking water and those who must resign to drinking tap or well water. While the former may keep their teeth, the latter (a large part of the population) do not have a smile in keeping with “modernity”. All this, of course, without going into deeper considerations about the influence of this type of water on their respective health. The misnamed sport of hunting attracts Argentinean and foreign tourists, who come in search of deer, wild boar, and pumas. The High Pampa is the most densely populated sub-region of the province and has a historical rainfall of over 600 mm. The Dry Pampa, on the other hand, is much less densely populated, and we can distinguish two sectors: (a) the central area, which suffers particularly from the strong annual oscillations of the isohyets, with historical average rainfall between 300 and 600 mm, and (b) the extreme southwest, with records of less than 300 mm per year. The accentuation of continentality is proportional to the decrease in rainfall. The vegetation varies in the same direction: from the pampas grass steppe, through the wooded wedge of caldenes, to the shrub-steppe with jarilla and other xerophytic vegetation, and finally to the almost absence of vegetation. The same is true of productive activities. In the High Pampa, agriculture is based on wheat, maize, sorghum, rye, and soya and on the gradual development of technology and infrastructure. In the central area (Dry Pampa), the largest salt deposits

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are exploited since the “caldenes” (a local, native tree) have been virtually decimated during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Finally, in the extreme southwest, productive activities are pending the hydraulic undertakings in the 25 de Mayo Dam and Power Plant and the large dam of Casa de Piedra, which is also a tourist attraction. Due to its position, the Dry Pampa is a transit region from the metropolitan region to Cuyo and Patagonia. Perhaps, for this reason, its road infrastructure is far superior to the national average; however, very little of these flows leave any resources in the province. Route no. 188, the obligatory road to the San Rafael oasis, in Mendoza province, crosses the northern Pampa. From the town of General Villegas to the west, every Pampean town, no matter how small, is carefully signposted, the roadsides are more forested than in the province of Buenos Aires itself, and an attempt is being made to promote a thermal center for the elderly in the town of Bernardo Larroudé. The provincial capital, the city of Santa Rosa, is home to a national university and has a significant technical and administrative apparatus. It has tried to provide recreational alternatives to its population by revaluating some public promenades. It has also had an active housing development policy with provincial resources, although, unfortunately, in most cases, the monoblocks have turned out to be real urban ghettos. South of the capital is the Parque Luro Provincial Reserve, where exotic species (such as red deer and wild boar) and native species (pumas and various birds) are protected from predators and where there is also a zoo and an interpretation center. The town of General Pico is the second city of the province. It is located in a prosperous agricultural area and has an industrial park. Other representative localities are: General Acha, Eduardo Castex, Victorica, Realicó, Trenel, Intendente Alvear, Macachín and Guatraché. Guatraché is trying to promote a thermal center with a bird reserve, mainly pink flamingos. Beyond Route no. 35, the drastic decrease in population density and road infrastructure is evident. Routes no. 154, no. 152, no. 20 and no. 151 give the impression of having been laid out “by the rule” to cross these territories as quickly as possible. They only appear to the north in the Atuel, Santa Isabel, and Algarrobo del Águila marshes. Toward the center, we find several salt pans around the town of Puelén. Further south is the village of Puelches, between the lakes La Dulce, La Amarga (toponymy clear as few others), and Urre Lauquen. There is also the Lihuel Calel National Park, in the mountains of the same name, which concentrates the most significant of the Pampean desert flora. In the western Pampean region, there are also a series of localities (such as Limay Mahuida and Algarrobo del Águila) that look like cartographic abstractions, where the inhabitants have traditionally suffered highly harsh living conditions. Lately, provincial administrations have allocated resources to try to mitigate this situation. On the southern axis, the Colorado River allows for other possibilities, particularly in those localities such as La Adela, such as La Adela, which are linked to the Patagonian province of Río Negro. In short, the Dry Pampa is a transition region between the Humid Pampa, the Patagonian region, and Cuyo. Despite the efforts of the provincial administrations,

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whose counterpart is strong clientelism, its conditions differ significantly from east to west. Its crossroads nature should provide it with alternative development opportunities. However, these cannot be achieved unless more funds are allocated to promote development through education, health, housing, social and productive infrastructure, and (most importantly) to promote the population’s access to legitimate means of production. Having shown the most notable differences between the different areas of the Pampean region, we now propose to investigate in greater detail the internal inequalities in terms of the living conditions of its population.

2.4 Pampean Interregional Inequalities 2.4.1 Education Dimension The population with poor education is highest in the following areas: Chaco Santa Fe, Pampa Seca, Delta and Sierras Pampeanas; in second place, there are the subregions of Buenos Aires Patagonia, Pampa Alta and Lomadas of Entre Ríos; finally, the Undulated and Southern Pampas stand out with better relative situations. The other end of the pyramid, i.e., the population with completed university-level segment, shows some similar territorial characteristics, especially the unfavorable position of the Santa Fe Chaco, Pampa Seca, and Sierras Pampeanas. In turn, the subregions with the most significant urban tradition concentrate the highest proportion of the university population, in principle because they have had university education centers for a more extended period and, secondly, because the same historical process has brought greater diversification to their social structure. In direct connection with this assessment, it can also be seen how the southern and southern Pampas subregions, where second-order urban centers with national university campuses are located, also appear in an excellent relative position (Map 2.2).

2.4.2 Health Dimension About the infant mortality rate (IMR), it is possible to define three large groups of subregions. On the one hand, the Santa Fe Chaco, Sierras Pampeanas, Undulated Pampa and the Littoral show high rates; on the second level, the sub-regions of the Delta, Pampa depressed and Dry Pampa can be found; finally, there are those subregions that are grouped in the quartiles with lower rates, such as the gringa, surera and alta Pampas. Social coverage is generally good in relative terms. The worst situations are observed at the edges of the region: Santa Fe Chaco, Sierras Pampeanas, Dry Pampa and Buenos Aires Patagonia (Map 2.3).

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Map 2.2 Indicators of the Education dimension. Pampean sub-regions (2010). Source National Census and personal elaboration. Quartiles are defined by national values

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Map 2.3 Indicators of the Health dimension. Pampean sub-regions (2010). Source National Census, National Ministry of Health and personal elaboration. National values define quartiles

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2.4.3 Housing Dimension About the population suffering from overcrowding, we can see that the best relative situation is represented by the subregions of the southern, gringa, high and depressed Pampas; in a second step, the undulated Pampa, and finally, the subregions of the Santa Fe Chaco, Buenos Aires Patagonia and Entre Ríos Hills, Delta and Littoral Pampa suffer to a greater extent from this problem. The percentage of population without toilets shows wider differences between the subregions of the Pampas, with the southern Pampas at the extremes with very low percentages and the Chaco region of Santa Fe with the highest. The remaining sub-regions linked to the province of Buenos Aires, such as the coastal, depressed, undulated, and high Pampas, have favorable situations (Map 2.4).

2.4.4 Environmental Dimension Finally, although the dimensions of education, health, and housing constitute three fundamental pillars of the population’s quality of life, the inclusion of the environmental dimension in the analysis is no less critical. Considering the natural-based recreational resources (RRBN), the Pampean Sierras stand out in the first place, where the picturesque relief is complemented by wetlands, watercourses and natural bathing resorts. Another notable area is the coastline of the Lomadas Entrerrianas, where the presence of significant watercourses and water ponds (with excellent river beaches) is integrated with consolidated thermal centers, especially in the Uruguay river corridor. The Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires province also stands out, with its beaches and seaside resorts complemented in its surroundings by the Tandilia and Ventania mountain ranges (coastal and southern Pampas). Some recent thermal centers should also be mentioned. In the rest of the Pampean territory, there is also the area of the Santa Fe coast with resorts in the Paraná River. This first group is the one with the best natural recreational resources, thus generating an attractive environment for the daily recreation of its population. In second place, the areas around the Pampean Sierras, the northern coast of Santa Fe, the interior of the Lomadas in Entre Ríos, and the coastal and southern Pampas are placed. Some areas in the southeast of the province of La Pampa (Pampa Alta) also appear here due to the presence of hot springs, parks, or unique green spaces. In this group, natural-based recreational resources are further away or are not as significant as in the first group. The third group includes a large part of the Pampa gringa, the interior of the province of Buenos Aires (mainly the Depressed Pampa), and the northern part of the Entre Ríos “Lomadas”, and various counties of the Pampa Alta. This group of territories is the most numerous, has the fewest recreational resources, and is the furthest away from noteworthy ones. The resulting score is generally based on minor elements, such as parks and green spaces or small spas.

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Map 2.4 Indicators of the Housing dimension. Pampean sub-regions (2010). Source National Census and personal elaboration. National values define quartiles

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Finally, the territory most lacking in recreational resources is the Dry Pampa, some counties of Santa Fe province, the west of Buenos Aires province, and the periphery of the RMBA. Here, natural attractions are particularly scarce for the resident population, so only higher-income groups can usually access other forms of (socially constructed) recreation under their consumption capacity. Regarding socially constructed recreational resources (RRSC), the central areas of the main cities (Córdoba and Rosario) are in the first place, which, due to their urban scale, provide services of a particular high hierarchy. The provincial capitals (Santa Rosa in La Pampa, Paraná in Entre Ríos, Santa Fe in the province of the same name, La Plata and Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires province) and some intermediate localities that have important RRSCs also stand out. Secondly, a group of counties surrounds the first ones, and headwaters have a less urban hierarchy. These are localities with a population of fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, which have a reasonable provision of services (educational, sanitary, commercial), but no great socially constructed attractions for the daily recreation of their population. A third tier brings together a high proportion of flats, still rather lacking in terms of socially built amenities. These are located further away from the attractions, and their headwaters are large towns with less than 50,000 inhabitants. They have only essential services (educational, sanitary, commercial), with even less significant recreational facilities. Finally, in the group most devoid of these resources are the counties of the Depressed and Dry Pampas. In all cases, these are pretty small towns—where extreme tranquility dominates- which are characterized by being centers of young people and those segments of the population with the most significant concerns. Finally, the most significant environmental problems (PA) are found around the RMBA, where there is a harmful combination of a strong presence of industry, pollution, noise, congestion, slums, rubbish dumps and flooding. The rest of the provincial capitals are also included in this group: there is a positive correlation between urban hierarchy and environmental problems. On the second level, a combination of situations can be distinguished: on the one hand, the heart of soybean farming in the Humid pampas in the south of Santa Fe province, a large part of Córdoba (the “Pampa gringa”), and the north of Buenos Aires province (the undulated Pampa), where the main problem is the use of pesticides. On the other hand, there are a series of intermediate localities in which there are various other problems (flooding, industry, dangerous locations). There are numerous counties with no industries in the two groups with minor problems. Likewise, the application of agrochemicals is lower, and, in general, there are no other types of risks, as extensive livestock farming predominates, with relatively low environmental impact (Map 2.5).

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Map 2.5 Environmental indicators. Pampean sub-regions (2010). Source: Velázquez and Celemín (2013)

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Map 2.5 (continued)

2.5 Quality of Life in Pampean Region The Pampas region is, after the Patagonian region, the one with the best quality of life in Argentina. This situation is heterogeneous within the region and can be analyzed based on significant socio-economic and environmental dimensions that allow us to summarize the situation of each county and sub-region. The region exhibits a certain degree of degradation toward its edges. As we mentioned at the beginning of this paper, we can distinguish three sectors: (a) the central area, with greater relative development, which includes most of Buenos Aires province, except for the Depressed Pampa and the contact zone with the RMBA, (b) Santa Fe and Córdoba, with relatively high levels of well-being and with transition zones toward other regions to the north and (c) a relatively peripheral area (La Pampa and Entre Ríos provinces). Regarding sub-regions, the “Pampas Surera” and “Pampas Gringa” are on the first line, whose good conditions are linked to their diversified economic and social structure, which translates into relatively good indicators in education, health, and housing. The former also benefits from its outstanding endowment of natural resources (sea and mountain beaches). In contrast, the worst relative situation is in the regional borders: Chaco Santa Fe, Western Pampa and the Pampean Sierras. In all cases, their economic and social structure is more straightforward and dichotomous, which is detrimental to the living conditions of most of the population. In the first two cases, environmental problems are also considerable.

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Map 2.6 Quality of life index. Pampean sub-regions (2010). 25 Source: Prepared personally based on National Census, vital statistics, and environmental indicators. National values define quartiles

Other sub-regions, such as the undulating or coastal Pampas, exhibit varying degrees of contradiction. The Undulated Pampas have relatively good socioeconomic conditions, but its endowment of NR is relatively low and suffers from environmental problems. The Coastal Pampas, on the other hand, possess NR but continues to show the vulnerability of seasonal tourism in its socio-economic structure despite attempts to diversify and extend the seasons (Map 2.6).

2.6 Concluding Remarks The most “outstanding” region in the historical process of the Argentine state’s formation has substantial inequalities. These asymmetries change according to the dimension of analysis addressed, so much so that some sub-regions are highlighted in some respects and then neglected in others. By way of example, we could cite the positive performance of the Depressed Pampa concerning overcrowding and the adverse situation of its environmental conditions. It was also possible to corroborate that some indicators, as expected in a regionalization, show less asymmetrical behavior within the Pampas region, such as overcrowding or lack of toilets. Others, on the contrary, show substantial differences that seemed unacceptable at the beginning of the analysis, such as the IMR, the population with a university degree, or recreational resources.

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Finally, thanks to the synthetic analysis presented using the Quality of Life Index, in which particular, extreme situations tend to be integrated, it is possible to arrive at a better interpretation of intra-regional differences. The results obtained allow us to affirm that, in general, and despite the undoubted improvements experienced during the first years of the twenty-first century, extreme situations tend to feedback on each other: both the negative ones preventing us from getting out of adverse conditions, and the positive ones, allowing us to sustain better relative conditions of well-being.

References Aráoz F (1982) Province of La Pampa. In: Atlas Total de la República Argentina. Centro Editor de América Latina, Buenos Aires Argentina INDEC (2010) National population, households and housing census, 2010. Data is available at http://www.indec.mecon.ar Barsky O (1991) El desarrollo agropecuario pampeano. Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires Flichman G (1977) La renta del suelo y el desarrollo agrario argentino. Siglo XXI, Buenos Aires Giberti H (1984) Las dos Argentinas agropecuarias. In: Realidad Económica, nº 60/61. Buenos Aires Gómez N (2011) Geography and the approach to urban fragmentation in Latin America. Editorial Académica Española, Saarbrüken Gori G (1964) Inmigracion y colonizacion en Argentina. Editorial Unversitaria de Buenos Aires Liberali A, Morina J, Velázquez G (1989) Socio-environmental consequences of changes in the employment structure. Argentina (1970–1985). In: Yanes L, Liberali A (eds) Aportes para el estudio del espacio socio-económico (III). El Coloquio, Buenos Aires Liberali A, Benitez, R and Gejo O (1996) Sobre el poblamiento patagónico en reflexiones geográficas—agrupación de docentes interuniversitarios. Río Cuarto. Argentina–1996 Manzanal M, Rofman A (1989) The regional economics of Argentina. Crisis and development policies. CEAL—CEUR, Buenos Aires Manzi R, Gallardo M (1973) Geography of Santa Fe, vol 3. Argentine Provinces Library. Spadoni, Mendoza Otero H, Velázquez G (1995) Tablas de mortalidad de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil Roccatagliata JA (1993) Argentine economic geography. Themes. El Ateneo, Buenos Aires Roccatagliatta JA (2008) Argentina: una visión actual y prospectiva desde la dimensión territorial, Emecé Ed. BsAs Rofman A (1999) Regional development and social exclusion. Transformación y crisis en la Argentina contemporánea. Amorrortu, Buenos Aires Vapñarsky C, Gorojovsky N (1990) Urban growth in Argentina. Grupo Editor Latinoamericano— IIED, Buenos Aires Velázquez G, Celemín JP (2013) Environmental quality in Argentina. CIG, Tandil Zárate Martín MA (2012) Geografía urbana: dinámicas locales, procesos globales. Editorial Universitaria Ramon Areces, Madrid

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Guillermo Angel Velázquez Graduated with Honor Diploma in 1983 from University of Buenos Aires, Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters (Geography) in 1994. Professor since 1986 in the Department of Geography of UNICEN (Tandil). Ordinary Full Professor since 1992 (maximum category). Visiting professor at University of Alcalá (1991 and 1994); UNESP (2004). Professor of Doctorate and Master’s seminars at UNMdP-FLACSO (1997); UNSur (2002–09); UNCuyo, (2002–04); USP, São Paulo (2004); UNCPBA (2004); UNNE (2007); UNLaPlata (2007); UNTucumán (2008, 2014); UNCórdoba (2013, 2020); UNSalta (2014); UNLitoral (2015). Invited lecturer at the Complutense University, Madrid (1991); UAH, Alcalá (1991); Valladolid (1991 and 1994); UFRO, Temuco (1999); Bio-Bio, Chillan (2000); UNP, Piura (2000); UNLP, Santa Rosa (2001 and 2009); UNESP, Marilia (2001 and 2004); UFZ, Leipzig (2002); UNNE, Resistencia (2003); USP, São Paulo (2004); PUCP, Minas Gerais (2004 and 2014); UPV, Vitoria (2008); UNLZ (2013); UMSA, La Paz (2015); UNL, Santa Fe (2015). Senior Researcher at CONICET since 2014. CONICET Principal Investigator (2007-2014). First in order of merit (100/100 points). Professor-Researcher Category “I” (maximum) since 1998. Secretary of Research and Extension. Fac. Cs. Humanas UNICEN (1989–1992). Vice President of the Association for Population Studies of Argentina (AEPA) (2001–2003). Director of the Center for Geographical Research (CIG) (1996–2012). Director of the Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGEHCS) since 2018. Néstor Javier Gómez Professor of Geography (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina) and PhD in Geography (Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Argentina). Professor at the ‘Urban Geography’ and ‘Geographic Information System II’ in the Department of Geography of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Santa Fe, Argentina). Scientific Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). Director of Research and Editorial Development of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL). Academic Member of the Doctorate in Social Studies (UNL). Director of research programs about urban quality of life. Adela Tisnés She is a GIS Technician, Professor of Geography, by the Faculty of Human Sciences of the National University of the Center of the province of Buenos Aires (FCH-UNCPBA). She has a PhD in Demography from the National University of Córdoba. She has carried out Postdoctoral fellowships at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in School of Public Health, Drexel University and at the Institute of Collective Health of the National University of Lanús, among others. Since 2007, she has been part of the Center for Geographic Research (CIG-FCHUNCPBA) contributing and publishing various works of scientific dissemination, in relation to applied geography and the potential of GIT applied to Health Geography. Participates in Extension and Transfer projects of the CIG-FCH- UNCPBA. In 2018, she stared as Research Support Personnel career (CPA-CONICET) at the Institute of Geography, History and Social Sciences (IGEHCS) where her main functions are work on the research lines of the members of the institute from of the processing, analysis and presentation of alphanumeric and graphic information of the different subjects under study in the disciplines: Geography and History. Since 2005 she has been a professor of the Geography and Higher Technician in GIS Faculty of the Faculty of Human Sciences of the National University of the Center.

Chapter 3

Cuyo Jaime Barcelona, Rosana Castillo, Andrea Leceta, and Ricardo Villavicencio

Abstract The name Cuyo defines a well-differentiated regional space of the Argentine Republic made up of the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis. But this definition does not cover the differences within the region, nor does it explain the deep relationships that have united these provinces over time. The history of the Cuyo region has several nuances to highlight, among them the presence of two processes of domination in a short time, the constant adaptation to the environment that configures a space characterized by the scarcity of green spaces (oases) surrounded by mountains and almost deserted traverses, which revalues the need for water resources for the subsistence of the oases; in addition, it should be necessary to take into consideration the high seismicity of the region, especially the provinces of Menoza and San Juan. To understand the profound differences and relationships between the various spaces that make up the region, the region has been divided into nine sub-regions: Oasis, Eje Puntano, Minera Norte, Minera Sur, Travesía, Valle Fértil, Serranías, Pastoril, and Payunia. The suggested sub-regionalization intended to maintain cohesion based on a double criterion: spatial continuity and functional hierarchy. This sub-regionalization shows the need to make the populated areas compatible with the adjacent desert. Thus, areas of high nuclear density (the Oasis), or of strong urban incidence (the Puntano Axis) converge with areas dedicated to mining or extensive cattle raising (Minera Norte, Sur, Payunia, Pastoril), mountainous areas (Valle Fértil and Serranías) and transit areas (Travesía). Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Cuyo region · Sub-regions · Counties J. Barcelona · R. Castillo (B) · A. Leceta · R. Villavicencio National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] J. Barcelona e-mail: [email protected] A. Leceta e-mail: [email protected] R. Villavicencio e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_3

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3.1 Introduction The name Cuyo defines a well-differentiated regional space of the Argentine Republic made up of the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis. But, this definition does not cover the differences within the region, nor does it explain the deep relationships that have united these provinces over time. In a first partial approximation, it can be said that the Cuyo region comprises a series of climatic and geomorphological aspects defined by the desert and its imprint in high contrast reliefs, such as huge mountains, long valleys, and depressions. In addition to these, there is the presence of snow-fed rivers that give rise to small oases, in relation to the total regional surface area, with irrigation possibilities. It is in these reduced spaces where economic activities are developed and cities are located. This first approach leaves the province of San Luis aside, where oases dominant features are lost and a transition towards the plains takes place. Thus, there is a progressive change from the Andean foothills of the border with Chile to the eastern mountain system, where semi-arid plains, pasture valleys such as Concarán and Conlara, and dry pampas for agricultural exploitation predominate. In short, this first approximation based on climatic and geomorphological aspects is not complete, as it does not present an effective characterization of the Cuyo region. A second approach based on the historical condition that describes this space seems more suitable, since it comprises a space that throughout the course of time has been inhabited by different human groups that adapted to the natural conditions by taking advantage of the resources available. Historically, the three Cuyo provinces, Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, were populated by the same aboriginal people, the Huarpes, conquered firstly by the Incas and then by the Spaniards, in less than a century. The Hispanic conquest united the destinies of these three provinces as the plan consisted of founding three centres with a triangular position to ensure mutual support in the face of the danger of indigenous attacks; this is how the three cities that today are the capitals of the homonymous provinces were born. Broadly speaking, to define the regional identity of Cuyo, we should consider differences in relief from the Cordillera to the plains and human occupation. Rohmeder justified so when he argued about the inclusion of the three provinces in the Cuyo region: “Embedded in the High Cordillera, towards the east its conditions extend beyond the regional scope; it is defined as a whole through a solid common history and by the narrow individuality that characterizes it among the different types of Argentine landscapes” (Rohmeder 1943, p. 242). The term “Cuyo” has clearly historical resonances that take us back to the Hispanic period, when the “corregimiento” of Cuyo (a sort of regional colonization administration) from the kingdom of Chile was established, that is to say, the part of the old General Captaincy of Chile, dependent from the Viceroyalty of Peru, located east of the Andes Mountain Ranges, until 1776 when this region became part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The name was later confirmed in 1813, by the second Argentine Triumvirate government, through the creation of the province of Cuyo, integrated by the towns of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis.

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The name Cuyo has not suffered morphological or phonetic variations since the sixteenth century, and it appears in the oldest documents that refer to the region, written in the same way, except for the eventual change of a “y” for an “i” (i.e. “Cuio”), common at that time. Its origin is in the same region, since it was one of the indigenous names used to refer to the valley formed by the present Mendoza River, where the homonymous city and its surroundings are located. In fact, the name Cuyo as one of the names of the valley of the present Mendoza River is mentioned in the oldest Spanish documents on the region, such as the chronicles of Gerónimo de Bibar in 1558, where it specifies that “From this province [Caria] to that of Cuyo there are thirty leagues. They are all populated and with many people. These Indians of Cuyo were also conquered by the Incas. These are better skilled at farming than those of Caria…” (Bibar 1966, p. 165). Almost immediately after the discovery of the area, the use of the name Cuyo spread and it became the denominator not only of a valley, but of the region in general, which began to be known as the province of Cuyo. The history of the Cuyo region has several nuances to highlight, among them the presence of two processes of domination in a short time, the constant adaptation to the environment that configures a space characterized by the scarcity of green spaces (oases) surrounded by mountains and almost deserted traverses, which revalues the need for water resources for the subsistence of the oases, in addition to the high seismicity of the region, especially in Mendoza and San Juan. Starting from the obstacle that meant the scarcity of this resource, its availability conditioned the settlement of the first settlers of the region around 8000 years B.C., which does not differ much from the current location of the population. In the course of history, the Cuyo region suffered two processes of external domination over a span of a few decades: firstly, the colonization of the Inca Empire and later on the Hispanic one. This process, which took place five centuries ago, changed radically both the gender and the quality of life of its inhabitants, initially related to hunting and gathering, followed by the possession of an incipient irrigated agriculture. For this reason, it is necessary to divide the analysis of the region’s population into three stages marked by important milestones in the history of the region. First Stage: Pre-Hispanic Settlement. It covers an extended period of time from the primitive inhabitants of the region until the arrival of the Spaniards, in the midsixteenth century. Second Stage: Colonial settlement. It comprises a short period of time (three centuries approximately), but intense in terms of its impact, from the arrival and settlement of the Spaniards in the region until 1810. Third Stage: Modern Settlement. This period extends from 1810 (May Revolution) to the present; although it is a little more than 200 years, it was enough to establish an economic profile of the region, as well as its articulation within the country and the world.

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3.2 First Stage: Pre-Hispanic Settlement Prior to the Inca conquest, the Cuyo region was inhabited by four groups of aborigines: the “Huarpes”, located in the centre of the region between the Jáchal-Zanjón rivers to the north, the Conlara valley to the east, and the Diamante river to the south; the Capayanes and Olangastas spread across the north of the province of San Juan and south of La Rioja province, in the valleys of Jáchal, Vinchina and Guandacol; and the “Puelches”, related to the “Pehuenches” of Northern Patagonia, located in the southern portion of the province of Mendoza. From these peoples, the most important one in size was the Huarpes, which can be divided into three subgroups that were differentiated by their language: the Huarpes Millcayac of Mendoza, the Huarpes Allentiac of San Juan, and the Huarpes Puntanos of San Luis. These groups, with a sedentary lifestyle, practiced rudimentary agriculture, grew corn and quinoa. In addition, they harvested carob fruits which they used to make “patay” and “chicha” or “aloja”, local food and drinks made from native plants. In the Guanacache small lake systems (which were then very extensive), they practiced fishing and wild duck hunting. Cuyo, Chile, and Tucumán were regions of the ancient Argentine territory which were conquered by the Incas between 1471 and 1525 (the Spaniards arrived in Peru in 1532). The relatively short time of the Inca colonization in the current Argentine territory would not prevent a strong influence of their culture among the peoples of Cuyo and, specifically, among the Huarpes. The degree of penetration of the Inca empire was quite intense considering, for example, that the Inca Trail in Argentine territory crosses seven of the present provinces (namely, Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, and Mendoza) and it was the main factor of Inca presence in the region. The control of the conquered territories took place by means of a system of political-military settlements articulated by a network of roads marked by posts or “pirca” shelters (man-made rock walls or “tambos”) organized through the Inca Trail. At this stage, the process of disappearance of the Huarpe people started, as the Incas applied their system of mitimaes, which consisted of transplanting the native population (Huarpes) and placing allochthonous groups (Incas) in their place. Undoubtedly, the Inca (Quechua) influence was strong in northern Argentina and Cuyo. San Juan and Mendoza bear witness to that presence and cultural influence, in addition to the Inca Trail, the ruins of Angualasto; tambo and ruins in Tocota, the Ciénaga de Yalguaraz, the Tambillos, and Ranchillos tambo; archaeological remains in Barreal; archaeological sites in Quebrada de la Flecha; as well as the discovery of mummified mortal remains in the Inca style in Cerro del Toro, Las Tórtolas, Nevado de los Tambillos, El Mercedario, Los Morrillos (at 3000 m a.s.l. in front of the present town of Barreal), and in the Pyramid of Mount Aconcagua. Even the toponymy of the region has a strong Inca presence in names such as Alingasta, Chimbas, Guaco, Guanacache, Marayes, Pachaco, Pismanta, Puchuzún, Tontal, Ullum, Usno, Uspallata, Aconcagua, Tunuyán, Tupungato, among others, which are of “Quechua”, or Inca, origin.

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But the main Inca footprint in the region is the construction of “acequias” (manmade water ditches for irrigation) as the main work to take advantage of the scarce water resources of the region. Such was the impact of the irrigation ditches that are still used today for irrigation, crossing the valleys as true arteries that distribute the vital resource for agriculture. The irrigation ditches were immediately adopted by the Huarpes, which allowed the development of an incipient agriculture transforming the activities of the aborigines, who went from being gatherers and hunters to farmers, with the consequent cultural changes in their rhythm and quality of life. It is no coincidence that when the Spaniards arrived, they settled in the areas occupied by the Huarpes, taking advantage of the infrastructure and the availability of aboriginal labour, as evidenced by the fact that the cities of Mendoza and San Juan were built in areas intensely occupied by indigenous communities. This fact was already highlighted in Bibar’s chronicles, which emphasized the fertility of the land and the quality of the irrigation ditches “[Caria] is a highly populated and fertile land…. From this province to that of Cuyo there are thirty leagues (i.e. ca. 150 km). They are all populated and crowded…. There are also very good irrigation ditches…” (Bibar 1966, pp. 164–165).

3.3 Second Stage: Colonial Settlement The Hispanic colonization took place from the two poles of conquest in the west: Chile, which became the target of Pedro de Valdivia, and Tucumán, the goal set from Cuzco by Diego de Rojas. In this process of advance and domination, the first contact with the lands of the Cuyo region has unfolded in 1551 by Captain Francisco de Villagra, following Pedro de Valdivia´s orders. After a long journey through the Humahuaca river valley and Tucumán, as described in the chronicles of Gerónimo de Bibar (1966), the “conquistador” (i.e. the conqueror) entered Cuyo from the Caramochica valley (today the Calamuchita river valley, around 100 kms southwest of Córdoba), touching the north of La Pampa province in the Conlara river valley, and from there entering the lands of Caria (San Juan province) and Güentota (Mendoza province). In these lands, there was an important population of sedentary aboriginals and farmers known as Huarpes, who settled mainly in the current valleys of the San Juan River, the lake area of Guanacache, the valley of the Mendoza and the Tunuyán rivers. In the valleys where the Huarpes settled, a double denomination was commonplace: in this way, the valley formed by the Mendoza River was named Güentata and Cuyo; the valley of the Tunuyán river, Uco and Jaurúa. In the case of the Guanacache lacustrine area, its indigenous name has remained unchanged until to the present days. The valley that was crossed by the current San Juan River was called Tucuma and Caria; the latter is known today as the Tulum valley, although this name does not have an indigenous origin as Michielli stated:

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Almost ten years later, the real founding crusade began, when Chile’s governor, García Hurtado de Mendoza, granted powers of occupation to his lieutenant Pedro del Castillo, who founded the city of “Mendoza del Nuevo Valle de La Rioja” on March 2, 1561, in homage to the governor Mendoza. However, the foundation of the city, which was to be Cuyo’s political and logistic centre, proved to be hasty and ended up being dismantled. Despite this, it kept the name of Mendoza, as it had been baptized by del Castillo. Just one year had passed by (March 2, 1561, to March 28, 1562) since its first foundation when Juan Jufré and Loayza, another “conquistador” sent by Francisco de Villagra, moved the city to a new location. Three months later, Jufré founded “San Juan de la Frontera” on June 13 in the valley of Tulum (then known as Caria or Tucma), in honour of the Patron Saint of Jufré, San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist). The city was settled until late 1593 in what is now Concepción. A flood of the San Juan River devastated the city, so Luis Jufré (the original founder’s son) decided to relocate it south of the first location. Although its foundational charter has been lost, it is believed that the city of San Luis was founded on August 25, 1594, by Luis Jofré de Loaysa y Meneses (Juan Jufré’s descendant), who was the lieutenant corregidor of Cuyo. In 1596, after having been abandoned, Martín García Oñez de Loyola, captain general of Chile, had it founded anew. The city was then named “San Luis de Loyola Nueva Medina de Río Seco”. In 1643 the city was moved to the area of El Talar. In 1689 a new transfer took place and the city was relocated in its current location. The foundation of these three cities responded to a planned decision, since they were established in strategically chosen equidistant points. This triangular plan acknowledged the need for defence against the aborigines and mutual support among the populations, in order to guarantee the effective installation of the Hispanic population in the region. “The functionality of this triangle attributed to Mendoza the condition of centre and main communication channel with Santiago, to San Juan that of frontier (not with Chile, but with the hostile peoples of the north) and to San Luis that of gateway or virtual connection with Córdoba, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires” (the cities located eastwards; Pickenhayn 2002, p. 38). At first, the existence of the populations was frail, and before a century had passed, the three cities had to be relocated for various reasons. Chile’s condition as a backland was the decisive factor in the founding of the new towns and the cohesive element that ruled between the time of the foundations and the incorporation of Cuyo to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. Therefore, the mining activity promoted by the Spaniards was superimposed on the original agricultural activity (not without conflicts and forced migrations). The demand for

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mule and cattle to meet the demands of the Spanish colonist, particularly in Chile and the Upper Peru, produced a new shift in production methods. After the foundations were laid, the lands were split among the settlers who lived in the region. The orthogonal plan, typical of the Spanish colonization, was drawn by dividing the land into square plots or blocks, reserving some of them for hospitals, squares, convents, among others. This type of plan persisted to this day in the cities of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis, but only in the central area and as it moved away from the centre, the plan lost its geometric design. Another point to consider is the need to sustain the Spanish presence in this region, despite not being for mining and lacking the natural conditions for the development of large-scale agricultural activities. These factors conditioned the quality of life of the newcomers to the region. It could be said that the Spanish permanence was only justified by the grants given to a few settlers and, especially, the complementary rights to gather Indians in “encomienda” (a sort of slavery) in order to transfer them to Chile. The economic development of the region began gradually as certain setbacks were overcome. Among them, isolation, which was solved with the opening of a road to Córdoba and Buenos Aires; the meat supply, which demanded its transportation from Córdoba, the supplying centre, and firewood for fuel, using the woody shrubland that extended to the east of the region. When the interest in metal extraction declined, efforts turned to agricultural work, giving way to the development of various crops, such as fruit trees, vegetables, cereals, alfalfa, and especially grapes, which were introduced from Chile and the city of Santiago del Estero. This last crop spread rapidly because of ideal ecological conditions for its development. Surpluses were used to produce handcrafted wines and spirits, raisins, dried fruits, sweets, among others; however, this industry was delayed for political reasons, such as the Spanish prohibition of winemaking in the colonies, a situation that marked the economic backwardness of Cuyo during this stage. In 1776 Cuyo was legally incorporated to the Río de la Plata Viceroyalty. From a formal perspective, it was a fact that regularized a situation in existence from the economic and social point of view. From its foundation, the cities of Cuyo were isolated from Santiago by the presence of a natural obstacle, the Andes Mountains, which caused a progressive distancing of Cuyo from Chile and its incorporation to the economic and cultural life which was concentrated in Buenos Aires. The incorporation to the Rio de la Plata Viceroyalty marked a milestone in the provinces of Cuyo, since it was necessary to know the existing population in order to structurally organize the new viceroyalty. In order to determine the population of Cuyo, in 1776 the General Census of 1777 was used, by order of Charles III. This was the first serious record of population in the region. The census operation was carried out in Cuyo at the end of 1777, registering the population by arms commanders, parishes, ethnic groups, and marital status (married, single, widowed, widowers, infants) omitting the classification by sex.

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Table 3.1 Population distribution in Cuyo according to the General Census of 1777 Mendoza

San Juan

San Luis

Ciudad

6.141

Ciudad

7.478

Ciudad

3.684

Jáchal

684

Valle de Uco

446

Renca

3.272

Valle Fértil

865

Corocorto

841

Total

6.956

Total

7.690

Total

8.765

Source Videla (1972)

The results obtained from the 1777 General Census showed that Mendoza, with 7478 inhabitants, was the most populated province in the region, followed by San Juan with 6141 inhabitants and then San Luis with 3684. This first record already shows the importance of the major oases that concentrated the population. In the case of Mendoza and San Juan, the population weight of the homonymous cities stands out with respect to the rest of the towns that did not exceed 1000 inhabitants. In the case of San Luis, the population distribution is more balanced, as there are almost no differences between localities. San Luis had 3684 inhabitants, while Renca, according to the 1777 Census, showed a figure of around 3300 inhabitants (Table 3.1). After the incorporation of Cuyo to Río de la Plata Viceroyalty, other population centres gained relevance in the region, for example, the Fort of San Carlos, whose inhabitants (290 in 1804) cultivated wheat and alfalfa, to raise cattle and to exploit the salt mines, whose products were transferred to the city of Mendoza. In the same way, the towns of Mogna (1753), San Agustín de Valle Fértil (1788), San José de Jáchal (1703), San Rafael (1805), among others, arose. Livestock traffic to Chile boosted the settlement of the foothill valleys, the eastern plains of Mendoza and the oases of Jáchal and Valle Fértil. Along with cattle raising activities, irrigated agricultural areas began to expand. Mining, on the other hand, did not lead to the formation of prosperous and stable population centres. Huerta de Huachi, El Castaño, Huaco, Hualilán, Marayes, among others, are worth mentioning. By the end of the colonial period in 1810, the foundations of modern Cuyo settlement were already in place. This was characterized by a densification of already populated sites rather than by the occupation of new spaces.

3.4 Third Stage: Modern Settlement The “obstacle” that the presence of indigenous groups represented for the region begins to be solved at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The advance of white people (i.e. Europeans) towards the south becomes a reality after the foundation of the San Rafael Fort, although the period is typified by the alternation of conflictive years with land fights and years of truce. In 1846, Fort Malargüe was founded, and

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in 1850, a policy of land donation for indigenous settlements in reserved areas is implemented. The frontier line with the Indian passed, in 1864, through the towns of San Rafael and Río Cuarto and the plan was to extend it up to the Colorado River. The aspiration became a reality with General Julio A. Roca’s “Desert Campaign” in 1879. This enterprise had two goals, an immediate and more publicized one, which was to militarily confront the Indians that populated vast extensions of our territory and endangered the frontier zones. The other one, mediate and less known, was to effectively populate a sector that could be disputed by Chile. For Cuyo, this campaign meant extending the border to the Neuquén River and ensuring the control of the mountain passes and the access routes to them. While trade between Cuyo and La Pampa was carried out by wagons, production slowed down and it failed to satisfy the needs of the consumer market. An important milestone was the arrival of the railroad in 1875 to Villa Mercedes, San Luis province, then in 1882 to the city of San Luis, extending in 1884 to the city of Mendoza, arriving finally to the city of San Juan in 1885. The arrival of the railroad in addition to the increase in the use of large-scale automotive transport (trucks and tanks) provoked a considerable economic development. These processes constituted the definitive take-off of the economy of the Cuyo region, which confirmed its agro-productive profile, mainly vineyards in Mendoza and San Juan, and livestock in the case of San Luis. Simultaneously, and thanks to the economic prosperity of the oases of San Juan, Mendoza, and San Rafael, there was a large flow of European immigrants, mostly Italians and Spaniards. This occurred between 1880 and 1914, and the city of Mendoza was the most prominent, since the Mendoza oasis was emerging as a centre of greater economic development and more diversified and complex functions. In second place, the area of San Rafael is found, as it was a new expanding area, where foreigners were able to join agricultural activity with a certain degree of ease. The province of San Juan received the smallest number, who settled in the Tulúm Valley, while immigrants from neighbouring countries, especially Chileans, arrived at the small marginal oases. Generally speaking, the history of Cuyo showcases many aspects, which are not discussed in this chapter; however, we should broadly refer the dominant features of the population distribution. In this stage of settlement of the Cuyo region, we find the bases that allow us to clarify the characteristics that govern the different hierarchies of the Cuyo provinces, as well as the differentiated behaviour in the population evolution, through the censuses of each province that make up the Cuyo region. The first National Census of 1869 presents that the original founding idea (three cities forming an equidistant triangle) was maintained, on the grounds that the difference, little more than 10,000 inhabitants between Mendoza (65,413) and San Luis (53,294), the most and least populated provinces, respectively, at the regional level was not significant. As regards the importance of the population of each province in the total of the region, no major differences were observed either, since the population of Mendoza constituted approximately 37% of the total of the region, followed by San Juan with

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33%, whereas San Luis occupied the last place with 30%. In addition to the balanced distribution of population among the three provinces, a similar economic development was identified. In conclusion, by 1869 the whole region offered parallel conditions for human settlement. Despite having almost identical number of inhabitants, the differences between the provinces of the Cuyo region lay in the potentialities or possibilities of economic development, which became evident after the second National Census. As of the 1895 census, a process of differentiation started between the three Cuyo provinces, which prevails to this day. The difference in favour of Mendoza has been stressed over the years. Between 1895 and 1914, the influx of foreigners played an important role in Mendoza’s population growth (mainly Italians and Spaniards) who arrived in Argentina and sought, as a destination, provinces with an agricultural profile similar to their places of origin. It is also noteworthy the arrival of migrants from other provinces drawn by the flourishing and booming wine industry. Immigrant groups also settled, but to a lesser extent, in San Juan and San Luis provinces. The process of population differentiation is accentuated by the 1914 census, which shows that the population of the province of Mendoza (277,535 inhabitants) doubles that of the province of San Juan (119,252 inhabitants), which underwent a significant emigration process during this period, while the population of San Luis province (116,266) hardly differs from that of San Juan. This process of differentiation in favour of Mendoza is corroborated when analyzing the population weight of the province in the regional total; in this sense, the population of the province of Mendoza represented 54% of the population of Cuyo in 1914. In turn, the population of San Juan province, as well as that of San Luis province, constituted 23%, in each case, of the population of the Cuyo region. Over the last decades, mining produced structural changes in the economy in activities related to oil and gold. Tourism also completes today a diversification panorama with variants in each province, becoming a driving force that has changed some characteristics of the regional population distribution. Broadly speaking, the process of population differentiation in favour of the province of Mendoza has been preserved over time, confirming the role of regional centre for which it was founded. By 2010, the population of Mendoza province (1,738,294 inhabitants) tripled the population of San Juan province (681,055) and quadrupled the population of the province of San Luis (432,310 inhabitants). Over time, the province of San Juan has regained its second place in the regional ranking, due to the importance of mining projects, which have been real “magnets” for the population and have reduced the population exodus. Currently, the province of Mendoza represents 61% of the total population of the Cuyo region, while the province of San Juan regained second place, representing 24% of the total regional population in 2010. San Luis province represents only 15% of the total (see Graph 3.1). Over time, some predominant features are evident to explain the distribution of the population in the region: In the first place, there is a close relationship between the main population centres and the concentration of water resources. In the case of the provinces of Mendoza

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CUYO

1895

1914

1947

1960

1970

1980

1991

2001

2010

125,732 200,387 513,053 1,015,006 1,350,739 1,540,819 1,876,620 2,227,654 2,567,607 2,852,294

Mendoza

65,413 116,136 277,535

588,231

824,036

973,075 1,196,228 1,412,481 1,579,651 1,738,929

San Juan

60,319

84,251 119,252

261,229

352,387

384,284

465,976

528,715

620,023

681,055

San Luis

53,294

81,450 116,266

165,546

174,316

183,460

214,416

286,458

367,933

432,310

Graph 3.1 Evolution of the population in Cuyo through the censuses from 1869 to 2010. Source Prepared by the authors, based on the National Censuses

and San Juan, the top-ranking centres, the Great Mendoza, the city of San Rafael and the Great San Juan, are located in the place where the main rivers form their cones of dejection, after crossing the foothills of the Andes and coming out onto the plain. There are appropriate soils, with fine silts, and it is the ideal place to distribute water through a system of canals for artificial irrigation of crops. In the case of the province of San Luis, although the Great San Luis and the city of Villa Mercedes are not located at the foot of the foothills, their location is established according to the existence of this precious resource. Another feature to consider is the close correlation between the magnitude of river flows and the density of population centres. In this sense, rivers with higher flows formed larger oases, a fact taken advantage of by the primitive inhabitants up to the present day, shaping the distribution of the population, for example: the Greater Mendoza, located in the Mendoza oasis supported by the Mendoza (average flow 53 m/s) and Tunuyán (average flow 26 m/s) rivers, has, according to the 2010 census, a population of 940,137 inhabitants. Another example is the Greater San Juan, which in 2010 had a population of 459,471 inhabitants and is located in the Tulum oasis supported by the San Juan River, whose average flow rate is around 68 m/s. The Cuyo region, due to its arid natural characteristics, depends on water availability for the settlement of the population. As a result, the population is concentrated in the oases, in the case of the cities of Mendoza and San Juan, and at the foot of the

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Pampean sierras, in the case of the city of San Luis. These areas concentrate more than 90% of the population in only 4% of the territory. The high degree of concentration of the population in such reduced spaces is a fact that characterizes the entire region, from the major oases of Mendoza and San Juan to the smallest ones. Something similar occurs in the province of San Luis, where the most populated sectors are located in the northern portion of the province, where the inhabitants prefer the proximity of the sierras rather than the dry central depressions without rivers. The same is true for services, which are located according to the size of the cities, generating a well-differentiated process between the oases, which concentrate activities, population and services, and the rest of the sparsely populated regional territory with little functionality in the regional structure. The territorial organization of the region into large oases that concentrate population, services and economic activities, on the one hand; and on the other hand, large territorial extensions with little or no population. This implies profound differences between the two spaces. The relations between the different sub-regions are established by means of spatial connection elements, mainly the most important routes, since the Cuyo region is functionally structured on the basis of the territorial organization of large irrigated oases, connected by important communication routes. But, among them, there are extensive interstitial spaces, often dotted with cattle posts and small settlements or agglomerations of intermediate size, each with its own dynamics, linked to the large oases by functional relationships, but geographically isolated. In order to understand the profound differences and relationships between the various spaces that make up the region, Beceyro (2016), in a previous work, divided the Cuyo region into nine sub-regions. The suggested sub-regionalization intended to maintain cohesion based on a double criterion: spatial continuity and functional hierarchy. For this reason, areas such as the large foothill oases, the mountain oases, or the dominant areas of northern San Luis province are grouped into continuous units, separated, in turn, into areas with their own functionality (the towns of Jáchal, San Juan, Mendoza, San Rafael, in one case; and Barreal, Rodeo, Uspallata, in another; finally, San Luis and Villa Mercedes, in the last case) (Beceyro, 2016, p. 224). The proposed sub-regions are shown in Map 3.1. The analysis at the sub-regional level shows a richness and complexity of regional functioning, as detailed below.

3.5 Oasis Sub-region The scarce availability of water in the region, together with the aridity and conformation of the relief, has conditioned human settlement since its beginnings. In fact, the first settlers settled in the areas of the valleys where oases had formed that were ideal for the development of human settlements. The presence of the oases of Jáchal, Rodeo-Iglesia, Ullum-Zonda, Tulum, Barreal-Calingasta in San Juan province, and Uspallata, North, Central or Uco, and South in the province Mendoza, articulates this region.

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Map 3.1 Sub-regions of the Cuyo region. Source Personal elaboration

An enveloping boundary encloses the main mountain range and foothill oases. The main irrigation-assisted agro-industrial activities of San Juan and Mendoza provinces and their corresponding urban centres of first hierarchical magnitude are concentrated in these areas. The main irrigated oases of the Cuyo region are located in this subregion, constituting the agricultural production areas par excellence. The mountain range oases are located in the longitudinal valleys that develop from north to south between the Andes Mountains and the Precordillera of San Juan and Mendoza. Among these oases, those of Rodeo and Iglesia (north of San Juan province) stand out, watered by the Blanco River and the Iglesia stream, respectively. In the southwest of the province of San Juan, the Castaño and Los Patos rivers irrigate the Barreal–Calingasta oasis. In the northwest of the province of Mendoza, the Uspallata oasis is formed by the presence of the San Alberto and Santa Elena streams that join their waters to form the Uspallata river, which then flows into the Mendoza river. The rivers formed in the mountain range flow towards the lower areas crossing the foothills, giving rise to the large oases that are formed in the foothills of this formation. Examples of these oases are Jáchal, Tulum, Ullum, and Zonda in San Juan province and the North, Centre, and South oases in the province of Mendoza. In the north of the province of San Juan, the Jáchal River irrigates the oasis of the same name, whose historical importance in the province places it as one of the most important at the provincial level.

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This oasis developed economically during the agro-export stage of our country due to the excessive demand for agricultural products, reaching even greater development than the oasis of Tulum; faithful witnesses of this golden age of the Jachallera economy are the existing relics, such as the mills of Sardiña, del Alto, Reyes and Huaco or Dojorti, which are currently preserved as National Historic Monuments. In the centre of the province of San Juan, the San Juan river, after crossing the foothills, waters the oasis of Ullum-Zonda and Tulum, the largest and most important wetland of the province and where the Great San Juan, the largest city in the province, is located. In the province of Mendoza, the Mendoza and Lower Tunuyán rivers give rise to the Northern oasis, the largest and most important one in the province since it is home to the Great Mendoza, the largest city in the province and the region’s hub. The Central oasis or Uco Valley is developed from the waters of the Upper Tunuyán River, where several localities, such as San Carlos, Tupungato, Tunuyán, La Consulta, Vista Flores, and Eugenio Bustos, are located. To the south of the province, between the Diamante and Atuel rivers, extends the Southern oasis, which besides being the second most important due to its size, also stands out for its economic and demographic centrality, since it plays a key role in the agricultural development of the province and, therefore, the city of San Rafael is the second most populated city in the province of Mendoza (Map 3.2). Such is the importance of this sub-region in the regional context that approximately 60% of the regional population lives in it, mainly in the cities of the Greater Mendoza, the Greater San Juan, and the city of San Rafael. In addition, population centres

Map 3.2 Main oases and cities in the Oasis sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

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developed around these cities and gradually joined the cities of greater hierarchy. This process continues as reflected in San Martín-La Colonia, in the province of Mendoza, whose recent demographic growth is spreading towards the northwest, getting closer and closer to the Greater Mendoza, which will inevitably absorb this locality. The Oasis sub-region is articulated through the National Route no. 40, which crosses the region from north to south linking the main cities, the Great San Juan in the north, the Great Mendoza in the centre, and the city of San Rafael in the south. This north–south articulation is complemented by the link to the neighbouring country of Chile and the rest of Argentina through the National Routes no. 150, 141, 20, 7, 146, 183, and 143, as well as numerous provincial routes and municipal roads that connect this sub-region with the rest of the region, further defining its central role in the region (Map 3.3). At the regional level, the sub-region of the oases is the most representative of Cuyo due to its configuration and relevance, facts that have made it representative. The importance of the oases was the basis for the articulation of the area, since the growing importance that the cities of Mendoza, San Juan and San Rafael, have acquired throughout history was associated with the increase in the irrigated surface area through constant works to make better use of the water resource. The increase in the cultivated area and the population that settled in the oases of Tulum and Mendoza led to the growing supremacy of the cities of the Greater Mendoza and the Greater San Juan in the regional configuration. In its growth, these cities extended into the neighbouring counties, incorporating part of them into the

Map 3.3 Main routes and cities in the Oasis sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

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cities. The Greater San Luis was originally structured as a city that articulated land communications with the Pampa region and the rest of the country.

3.6 Puntano Axis Sub-region Until the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, Cuyo was part of the General Captaincy of Chile, so the regional space was organized according to the Captaincy needs. In the first place, passages were sought to allow the transfer to Santiago, not only of merchandise and messages, but also of those original inhabitants who were selected to serve under the “encomienda” regime in Chile. This stage was marked by the difficulties of crossing the Andes with bulky loads and the competition derived from similar production in the central Chilean valley. The aforementioned circumstances have conspired in a way that the Cuyo region tended to complement the Pampas region on an economic basis, a fact that was formally materialized with the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. As it became more closely related to the Pampean region than to Chile, a change in spatial organization began to take shape, since its focus was no longer on the western areas but on the eastern regions, especially on the growing demands of the city of Buenos Aires and its port. This new organization towards the east gave a predominant position to the province of San Luis, especially to the sub-region designated as the Puntano Axis. This sub-region is considered the “Gateway to the Cuyo region”, because it contains the east–west axis of circulation of the region that allows the connection with the main urban centres of the country, together with the possibility of accessing the port of Buenos Aires. This east–west articulation axis is set around the cities of San Luis and Villa Mercedes. Such function of gateway to Cuyo was historically assigned to the post of Villa Mercedes, later a fort, especially as the economic expansion of the country from the port of Buenos Aires to the hinterland and to the Pacific Ocean. The process of territorial expansion was accompanied by the acquisition of a marked agro-exporting image at the national level. This process required an increase in the cultivated area and the railway network, which was replicated in Cuyo with an increase in the area devoted to vineyards and fruit trees. During this expansion process, the arrival of the railroad to Cuyo followed this east–west trend. During General Julio A. Roca’s first presidency, the railroad first reached the city of Villa Mercedes (1875), then the city of San Luis (1882), and later extended to the cities of Mendoza (1884), San Juan (1885), and San Rafael (1903). This line, which passed through the cities of San Luis, San Juan, and Mendoza, was a branch of the Andean Railroad that allowed transportation of agricultural and mining products and passengers as well. During the government of Dr. Miguel Juárez Celman (1886–1890), the “Ferrocarril Andino” (the Andean Railroad) was sold, thus giving birth to the “Ferrocarril Gran Oeste Argentino” (the Big-West Argentine Railroad) until 1907, when it was

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administered by the “Ferrocarril Buenos Aires” (Buenos Aires Railroad) to the Pacific Railroad. The need for an outlet to the ports for regional production led to the construction of the “Transandino train” (the Trans-Andean Railroad, in 1931), which provided access to Santiago de Chile and Valparaíso. In 1948, within the framework of the first Five-Year Plan, during the first government of General Juan Domingo Perón, public services were nationalized, among them the railroads, which were renamed as “Ferrocarriles Argentinos” (Argentine Railroads). At its peak, the Cuyo region was linked to the rest of the country, especially to the port of Buenos Aires, through the “General Belgrano”, “General San Martín”, and “Domingo Faustino Sarmiento” railroads. Of these three, the General San Martín Railway was the most extensive. It articulated the whole region and its exit to the east was through this sub-region, which maintained its profile as a gateway to and from the Cuyo region. With the increase in automobile transportation and misguided transportation policies, the railroad gradually lost its importance and functionality, finally ceasing to operate in most of the country during the 1990s. The automobiles used for the transportation of people and goods have needed measures for its development. As a result, the paving of National Routes no. 7 and no. 188, which link Cuyo with the Pampean region, was promoted, as well as the pavement of numerous provincial routes. Currently, the regional road network is made up of a series of provincial routes that link several villages with the main population centres. In addition to these routes, the national routes that guarantee the circulation between the large urban centres and the rest of the country form the backbone of the country. The Cuyo region is linked to the rest of the country, especially the city of Buenos Aires (the main consumer market for its products) and the port of departure for its production, by National Routes no. 150, no. 141, no. 20, no. 7, no. 8, and no. 188. In most cases, the routes run parallel to the railroad tracks. Of these national routes, the most relevant at the national level are routes no. 7 and 8, since they are the most used for communication with Buenos Aires. Both of them cross the sub-region of the Puntano Axis, which is articulated in a west–east direction in terms of the cities of San Luis and Villa Mercedes. In this way, the role of “Gateway to Cuyo” is maintained and increased even more (Map 3.4).

3.7 Northern Mining This sub-region extends west of the Cuyo region through the province of San Juan to northern Mendoza. It is a sub-region characterized by the presence of a series of mountain and foothill areas with very low population density but with important metalliferous and non-metalliferous mineral exploitations.

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Map 3.4 Puntano axis sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

The relief is a fundamental factor in explaining the distribution of the population and the presence of the mining deposits that give it its own identity. In this subregion, there are four well-defined structures that make up its relief. To the east, the Precordillera of San Juan and Mendoza provinces is located, whereas to the west, there are the mountain ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes, that can be divided into two sectors, the Cordillera Principal that starts in the south of the province of San Juan and extends to the south of Mendoza province; the other sector is the so-called Cordillera Frontal that runs from the north of San Juan to the centre west of the province of Mendoza. Between these structures, extensive longitudinal valleys develop. To the north is the Rodeo-Iglesia valley, in the central zone, the Calingasta-Barreal valley, while to the south, we find the Uspallata valley. These valleys are home to the region’s smaller oases. These small oases share common characteristics derived from their limited potential. In general, they are sparsely populated and maintain a subsistence economy due to the scarcity of arable land linked to the limited availability of sufficient water for crop irrigation, which limits their development and spatial growth. While these small oases are not part of the sub-region, they serve as a nexus because they are crossed by routes that allow communication between the mountainous areas and the central oases of the region. Although the sub-region does not have population centres, its dynamism, particularly in the last few decades, is related to the existence of large mining operations (mostly gold and other metals). These high mountain projects require a large number

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of mining workers, which is why the camps have become real population centres (albeit of a temporary nature). These mining projects hold a far-reaching presence in San Juan province as mining development has been established as a State policy since 2002, while in Mendoza the mining industry has almost been paralyzed by political decision after the enactment of Provincial Law No. 7722, which stopped the development of mining projects that require the use of chemical substances in the provincial territory. In the province of San Juan, although the projects are far from the population centres, they have had a considerable impact on them; on the one hand, the employment of labour was a positive factor in the economy of these towns, but the environmental problems derived from these exploitations, where water resources are abundantly consumed, while huge “tailing dams” are built for the deposit of chemical waste, have a negative impact, since there have been numerous infiltrations and spills that have seriously affected the health of the population of the sub-region. The main existing mining centres are located in two well-defined areas: to the east, the Precordillera area, which concentrates a great deal of non-metalliferous mining activity, represented by the production of application rocks. It has valuable limestone, dolomite, diatomite, bentonite, kaolin, gravel, sodium sulphate, travertine marble, other marbles, and schists. To the west, in the mountain range area, mainly metalliferous minerals are mined, such as gold, copper, lead, silver, zinc, molybdenum, arsenic, bismuth, and others, but also industrial minerals and application rocks such as aluminium sulphate, gypsum, granite, rhyolite and others are extracted. Metalliferous mining is most relevant in the province of San Juan since it represents around 70% of the provincial exports of this industry, mainly due to the activity of the Veladero, Gualcamayo, and Casposo mines, currently in operation. In addition to these active mines, there are the Josemaría, Filo del sol, Pascua-Lama, and del Carmen projects in the counties of Iglesia, and Altar and Pachón in the county of Calingasta, which are in advanced stages, close to starting their exploitation. Finally, in this sub-region, more than 20 mining projects are in early stages; thus, their feasibility cannot be defined yet (Map 3.5).

3.8 Southern Mining The southern mining sub-region is located entirely in the province of Mendoza, more precisely in their centre and southwestern portions. It is mainly occupied by the “Cordillera Principal” (the Main Andean Mountain Range) to the west, from the northern to the southern extremes, until it limits with the province of Neuquén. The altitudes decrease very fast towards the east, where the eastern piedmont plains begin, while to the southeast, the first volcanic manifestations appear, typical of the volcanic relief of the Payunia sub-region. The area has a very high elevation, although its profile is only extractivist since the distillation and production of derivatives take place outside the sub-region.

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Map 3.5 Northern mining sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

This sub-region includes part of the hydrocarbon deposits of this province, mainly those of the Neuquina Basin, which includes the county of Malargüe and the west of San Rafael. The aforementioned basin extends towards the provinces of Neuquén, La Pampa, and Río Negro with whom it shares the very important Vaca Muerta oil and gas field. The most important hydrocarbon deposits in the sub-region are: El Sosneado, Río Atuel, Cerro Mollar, Puesto Rojas, and Agua Botada. Although this sub-region is, par excellence, dedicated to the exploitation of hydrocarbons, this activity began in the Cuyo basin, in the north of the province where oil was extracted in the hills of Cacheuta, which was then treated in the distillery of San Vicente (now closed) to obtain kerosene for lighting. Due to the high transportation costs to Buenos Aires, the main consumer, this activity declined at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1910, the exploration and exploitation of new oilfields were resumed with foreign (Chilean) and later Mendoza’s funding, especially in the Neuquén basin, which began to have relevance at a provincial and national scale. In 1932 the exploration and exploitation rights were transferred by agreement to YPF (“Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales”), the National Oil Company, created in 1922. From that date on, YPF acquired exclusive exploitation rights and the province collected royalties equivalent to 12% of the net oil and gas production. The oil obtained in the basin is sent through pipelines to the Luján de Cuyo Distillery, which is located in the Oasis sub-region, where the following derivatives are obtained: kerosene, naphthas, gasoline, gas oil, diesel oil, and fuel oil. This huge distillery was built in 1941 and started operating with a distillation capacity of 500

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m3 /day and was expanded three times (1954, 1961, and 1970). It currently processes 9000 m3 /day. The expansion of the distillery and the construction of two polyducts, one from the city of Mendoza to the city of Córdoba, and the other from Mendoza to the county of La Matanza (Buenos Aires province), which passes through Villa Mercedes, allowed reaching maximum levels. Thus, the province of Mendoza generates 30% of the national total of hydrocarbon productions, extracting the resource mainly from the Minera Sur sub-region. Regarding gas, the outlook is not the same, since Mendoza province deposits are not very rich in natural gas. In spite of this, there exists an extensive network that reaches all the oilfields in operation. In this sense, the “Gas Andes Argentina” gas pipeline stands out, which allows exporting the available product to Chile. The southern mining sub-region is the source par excellence of oil resources. Due to the conditions of the mountainous relief and its productive profile, the subregion is sparsely populated, and only the town of Malargüe stands out, with 21,619 inhabitants, according to the 2010 Census. Malargue acts as a communications node with the rest of the region through National Route no. 40 that links it with the Great Mendoza and National Route no. 145 that links the sub-region with the city of San Rafael; besides, this route is linked with the adjacent Maule region in Chile through the Pehuenche Pass. On the other hand, the proximity of various tourist attractions such as the “Caverna de las Brujas” (the Witch Cave), the Llancanello lake, and the Payunia reserve area. The Las Leñas ski resort further increases its role as a communications’ node for the sub-region (Map 3.6).

3.9 TRAVESÍA Considered a transit area—hence its name, “the one that crosses”—its main characteristic is the scarcity of water resources, which has made human settlement quite difficult. The Travesía sub-region occupies part of the eastern sector of the province of San Juan, the northeast of Mendoza province, and the northwest of San Luis province; it is the only sub-region that extends over all three provinces. It constitutes a depression framed by the Andean Precordillera of San Juan and Mendoza to the west, in whose foothills the largest oases of the region have been formed. To the east, it limits with the Sierras de Valle Fértil in San Juan province and the Sierras de San Luis and Comechingones in San Luis province, which are part of the Sierras Pampeanas in the centre of the country. Towards the south, it gradually loses its characteristic of desert, as the presence of water increases, until it becomes a mountain range with more water and vegetation that gives rise to another sub-region (sub-region Pastoril). This great depression is interrupted only by the Sierras de Pie de Palo in the province of San Juan, up to 3000 m high, considered part of the Sierras Pampeanas, which acts as a distributor of the scarce rainfall that occurs in the sub-region. To

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Map 3.6 Southern mining sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

the south of these sierras, a zone of sand dunes has formed extending for more than 70 km, between the cities of San Juan and San Luis. Throughout history, this sub-region has had a differentiated behaviour depending upon the inhabitants of the region. In the Pre-Hispanic period, the San Juan and Mendoza rivers gave rise, at their mouth, to the Guanacache Lacustrine system, which was used by the Huarpes for their settlement. However, this primitive installation did not take into account two phenomena: infiltration and evaporation of the flows, which had to travel long distances without receiving additional contributions. With the arrival of the colonizing currents, first Inca and then Spanish, a process of greater use of upstream water resources began, which still continues, but with greater intensity, accentuating the arid conditions throughout the sub-region. The aridity of the sub-region is what sets its economic course, since it is sparsely populated and the most exploited resource is forestry, which is only used in a rudimentary way to obtain firewood. The population in the sub-region is scarce; two population centres stand out, Marayes in San Juan province and La Paz in Mendoza province; these present two different realities; although both towns acquired importance thanks to the railroad, when it stopped running in the nineties, their histories took different directions. In the case of the town of Marayes, National Route no. 141, which used to run parallel to the railroad track, was built on the outskirts of the town, which also does not have a fuel station. As a result, the town lost its main source of income. Thus,

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a process of emigration began that has turned it into almost a “ghost” town, where less than 100 people currently live. In La Paz town, on the other hand, the disappearance of the railroad was not strongly felt, because, besides being the head of the homonymous county, it is crossed by National Route no. 7 in the section that joins the Greater Mendoza with the Greater San Luis. According to the last census, the city had almost 10,000 inhabitants, and besides being an equidistant point between both provincial capital cities, it works as a mandatory stop. Other important communication routes are National Route no. 20 that joins the Greater San Juan with the Greater San Luis and the National Route no. 7 that reaches Buenos Aires; also, the National Route no. 150 is part of the Bioceanic Corridor that would join the ports of Brazil with those of Chile. To this end, the route that joins Valle Fértil with Jáchal was recently paved, in addition to continuing with the negotiations for the construction of the Agua Negra Tunnel that would complete the corridor. Given the presence of communication routes, it is valid to consider this sub-region as a true crossroads linking the oases with the axis of El Puntano and, through it, with the cities of Córdoba and Buenos Aires, as well as the future link with the Bioceanic Corridor (Map 3.7).

Map 3.7 Travesía sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

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3.10 Valle Fértil The Valle Fértil sub-region constitutes a space of transfiguration from the Cuyo region towards the plains of La Rioja and the sierras of western Córdoba. The sub-region itself comprises the entire county of Valle Fértil, bordering the province of La Rioja to the east and north, while to the west the Valle Fértil and the La Huerta mountain ranges separate it from the Travesía sub-region. It is precisely the sierras that give identity to this sub-region. The Sierras Pampeanas (Sierras de Valle Fértil and Sierras de la Huerta) have heights above 2000 m, and due to their north–south development, they face the winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean which, upon reaching this sub-region, discharge their scarce humidity in an orographic way. This allows the sub-region to concentrate the highest amount of precipitation at the provincial level, which is around 400 mm per year. This precipitation feeds small rivers and allows irrigation, generating small oases. The largest oasis in this sub-region is San Agustín de Valle Fértil (head of the Valle Fértil county), whose influence extends to the other oases in the county: Chucuma and Astica to the south and Usno and Baldes del Rosario to the north. San Agustín is the sub-regional node that concentrates the county administrative activities and population, with approximately 4500 inhabitants in 2010, followed by the towns of Astica (approximately 1000 inhabitants) and Usno (300 inhabitants). The rest of the inhabitants are concentrated in small villages, which depend on water collection, as in the case of Chucuma, or are scattered among the mountains, dedicated to raising cattle. Although cattle raising is a widely developed activity in the sub-region, it is not the predominant economic activity; this category is occupied by tourism, which is the engine of the sub-regional economy. This activity is mainly oriented towards domestic tourism as a place of rest for the inhabitants of the Greater San Juan. At the national and international levels, dedicated mainly to scientific tourism, the Ischigualasto Provincial Park and the National Reserve and the Talampaya National Park (province of La Rioja), which were declared Natural Heritage of Mankind by UNESCO in 2000, stand out. In the La Rioja-San Juan border, there is an area of about one hundred kilometres long and fifty kilometres wide, which is the only site in the world that presents the complete sequence of Triassic sedimentary and volcanic beds, belonging to the Early Mesozoic, which have an extraordinary paleontological richness, mostly early dinosaurs. This tourist development has as its axis the town of San Agustín, since the great distances that separate it from the main cities in the region force tourists to spend the night in that town or make the circuit from the city of La Rioja. The articulation of the sub-region has a north–south direction through the route of Provincial Route no. 510 which joins to the south with National Route no. 141, which allows the connection with the nearest city (the Great San Juan), while to the north it joins with National Route no. 150, recently paved, as part of the works in execution for the implementation of the Bioceanic Corridor between the ports of Brazil and Chile (Map 3.8).

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Map 3.8 Valle Fértil sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

3.11 Serranías The Serranías sub-region is entirely developed in the province of San Luis, occupying the northeastern sector. It is bordered to the north by the provinces of La Rioja and Córdoba, which also bounds it to the east. To the south, it is bordered by the Eje Puntano sub-region, while to the west, there is a slow transition towards the Cuyo crossings. The name of this sub-region is due to its undulating morphology, with a favourable water balance, which makes it a tourist attraction with quite pleasant microclimates. Among the structures that make up the relief of the sub region, the Sierras de San Luis stand out, with an average altitude of 1500 m above present sea level, in the southwestern sector of the sub-region, while to the northeast, there are the first exposures of the Sierras de Comechingones, which mark the boundary between the provinces of San Luis and Córdoba. To the north of the sub-region, the depression known as Pampa de la Candelaria, shared with La Rioja and Córdoba provinces, is found. It is a sub-region whose main economic activity is closely linked to the natural characteristics that have configured an area suitable for tourism. Due to their features, it is more similar to the conditions of the centre of the country (mainly the sierras of the province of Córdoba). The succession of scarcely elevated reliefs, the sierras

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interspersed by small valleys, and the presence of abundant rainfall generate a subregion of temperate climate where the resources for the development of tourism abound. In addition, numerous rivers are used for irrigation and human consumption. To make better use of this resource, several reservoirs have been built that also act as tourist attractions, such as the San Felipe Reservoir on the Conlara River, and the La Huertita Reservoir on the Quines River. In the sub-region, we find many towns. In this case, we analyse those with more than 3000 inhabitants for the 2010 Census, and they are grouped into two axes according to the national routes that cross the sub-region: on the one hand, National Route no. 20 that runs along the northern part in a west-northeast direction, passing through the localities of Luján and Quines, which is the most important population centre of this axis. In Quines, the National Route no. 20 joins with the National Route no. 79, which goes northwards passing through the town of Candelaria until it joins the National Route no. 69 in the locality of Casa de Piedra in the province of Catamarca. In the village of Luján, it joins National Route no. 146 coming from the south, more precisely, from the town of San Rafael in the province of Mendoza, where it starts, crossing the Great San Luis before joining National Route no. 20. On the other hand, the eastern sector of the Serranías sub-region is crossed from north to south by National Route no. 148, which runs parallel to the old tracks of the General San Martín Railroad. This route joins, in the north, with the National Route no. 20 in the town of Villa Dolores, Córdoba, while towards the south, It crosses Villa Mercedes and continues south until it reaches the border with the province of La Pampa, where it becomes a provincial route. As it passes through the Serranías subregion, it articulates through local routes with the towns of Santa Rosa del Conlara, Concarán, Tilisarao, and Naschel, which are located several kilometres away because they were established as railroad stations. Besides, National Route no. 148 allows the articulation of the two most important localities of the sub-region: the villages of Merlo and La Toma. The town of Merlo, located in the extreme northeast of the province of San Luis, almost on the border with Córdoba, is the main tourist destination in the sub-region due to the beauty of the mountain landscape, dotted with streams and vegetation. Besides, being at the foot of the Sierras de Comechingones, its tourist proposal includes hiking, horseback riding, agrotourism, adventure tourism, and condor watching. Due to its location, the city of La Toma forms a triangle with the Great San Luis and the city of Villa Mercedes. As it is the northern vertex of this triangle, it acts as the road node of the sub-region, since it is crossed by Provincial Route no. 10 with east–west orientation and by Provincial Route no. 2 with south-north orientation, which starts in Villa Mercedes; from this city, Provincial Route no. 20 also starts which joins it with Greater San Luis (Map 3.9).

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Map 3.9 Serranías sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

3.12 Pastoril This is one of the sub-regions with the largest surface area in the Cuyo region. It occupies part of the provinces of Mendoza and San Luis. In the case of the province of San Luis, it extends throughout the south of the province, while in Mendoza, it is located to the southeast. To the north, it borders with the Eje Puntano sub-region in San Luis, while in the province of Mendoza, it borders the Travesía sub-region and part of the Oasis sub-region to the north. To the east, it borders parts of the Oasis and Payunia sub-region. To the south, it borders entirely with the province of La Pampa, while in the east, it borders with the provinces of Córdoba and La Pampa. As for the conformation of the relief, the Pastoral sub-region is characterized by a gently undulating plain relief, with a slight slope towards the southeast. From the hydric point of view, profound differences between the east and west of the sub-region emerge: the west, in the province of Mendoza, is crossed by intermittent watercourses and important permanent watercourses (Tunuyán, Diamante and Atuel rivers) that are part of the Desaguadero-Salado river basin, while the east, the province of San Luis does not have watercourses, but small endorheic lakes and ponds in the extreme northeast of the sub-region. The relief conditions and the scarce availability of water resources have allowed the development of extensive livestock farming, mainly cattle, both for breeding and fattening, especially in the province of San Luis. On the other hand, rainfed agriculture is practised, which allows the cultivation of forage species. In the southeast of the

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sub-region, conditions are more favourable, which allows the raising of good quality cattle and the development of cereal and oilseed agriculture. In terms of demography, this sub-region has a low population density, with a predominance of cattle posts, ranches, and some scattered hamlets, linked by trails and some provincial routes. In this sense, the most populated towns are Unión and Buena Esperanza, both in the province of San Luis, although neither reaches 3000 inhabitants. Of these two localities, Buena Esperanza stands out because, being the head of the Gobernador Dupuy county, it has the corresponding administrative functions, but in general the sub-region only has basic hospital and educational infrastructure. Monte Coman is another outstanding locality, not for its population, but for being a node in terms of communication routes. This town is crossed in a southwest-northeast direction by the National Route no. 146 which starts in the locality of San Rafael and ends up joining National Route no. 20 in the locality of Luján in the north of the province of San Luis. Also in this locality, from the north, the Provincial Route no. 153 coming from the Great Mendoza joins with the Provincial Route no. 171, which links it with the city of General Alvear from the south. The east–west articulation is based on the old tracks of the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento railroad to the south and the General San Martín railroad to the north. Both articulate a series of sparsely inhabited towns that lost part of their relevance when the passenger trains stopped running. Parallel to the tracks of the Sarmiento Railroad, National Route no. 188 joins the town of General Alvear with the port of San Nicolás de los Arroyos in the province of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, the north–south articulation is based on the connection with the cities of Greater San Luis and Villa Mercedes. In this sense, we have already mentioned the connection with the Greater San Luis through National Route no. 146, while it is connected with Villa Mercedes National Route no. 148, which then continues northwards to join National Route no. 20 in the town of Villa Dolores in the province of Córdoba (Map 3.10).

3.13 Payunia Located in the south of Mendoza province, Payunia is an environment of volcanic origin. Its geographical features resemble those of the Northern Patagonia of Neuquén. It is bordered to the south by the province of Neuquén, to the east by the province of La Pampa, to the west with the Minera Sur sub-region, while to the north, it borders the Minera Sur, Oasis, and Pastoril sub-regions. Its main feature is the relief of volcanic origin where the lava flows have caused an inhospitable and impressive landscape. In this volcanic scenery, the lava solidified in the form of large mantles or successive basalt flows. Among them, some mountain ranges stand out, such as the Sierra del Nevado to the east, whose maximum peak is the 3833 m high Cerro Nevado. In the west, the Cordón de Mary, on the border with Chile, and the Alto del Payún stand out, with the volcanic peaks of Payún Matrú (2930 m) and Payún (3680 m).

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Map 3.10 Pastoril sub-region. Source Personal elaboration

Among the economic activities of the Payunia sub-region, oil exploitation is noticeable, whose production has been reduced significantly during the last decades. Therefore, it is common to see the presence of oil wells, active or not, immersed in the imposing volcanic landscape. Oil activity is developed in a space divided into different areas (Chachahuen, Chihuido, Cañadón Amarillo, Payún Oeste, among others), with highly productive wells and proven reserves of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. The sub-region is dotted with small population settlements (cattle posts and sites) and infrastructure related to mining and oil activity. The total population of the sub-region is estimated at approximately 1700 inhabitants (considering the Agua Escondida and Punta de Agua districts), so the population density is very low. The population lives in small settlements and in subsistence transhumance cattle ranches (mainly goats), scattered throughout the territory and with deep-rooted ancestral customs. The characteristic housing is the rancho or “casilla”, built with adobe walls and a reed roof, and water is drawn from wells or cisterns (locally known as “jagüeles”). Inhabitants lack basic infrastructure and sanitation services. Therefore, in order to have access to educational establishments and health services, they depend upon the transfer to the cities of Malargüe (Minera Sur sub-region) and San Rafael (Oasis sub-region) or to small places, such as Agua Escondida and El Nihuil, in the northern end of the sub-region, which, although it is the most important town, it has barely 1000 inhabitants.

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Map 3.11 Sub-region Payunia. Source Personal elaboration

In the sub-regional articulation, National Route no. 40 stands out in the west, crossing the sub-region from north to south, parallel to the Río Grande between El Cordón de Mary and Alto del Payún. In the eastern sector, we find some provincial routes, such as route no. 180 that crosses the sub-region from south to north, from the border with Neuquén passing through the town of El Nihuil to reach San Rafael in the Oasis sub-region. For its part, Provincial Route no. 190 crosses the sub-region, passing through the town of Agua Escondida, in a southwest-northeast direction, linking this space with the town of General Alvear (Map 3.11).

3.14 Education Dimension As regards this dimension, the population with a level of education lower than elementary school and complete university studies was considered. The population with less than complete elementary education has a higher proportion in the sub-regions Pastoril, Travesía, Serranías, and Valle Fértil; in a second level, we find the sub-regions Minera Sur and Payunia. Finally, the Eje Puntano, Minera Norte, and Oasis sub-regions are in a better situation (Map 3.12). In the case of the population with a complete university level, the lowest percentages correspond to the sub-regions of Travesía, Serranías, Valle Fértil, Pastoril, and Minera Norte. In a second block, there are the Payunia and Minera Sur sub-regions,

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Map 3.12 Education dimension. Population without complete elementary level (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on 2010 National Census

while the highest percentages of population with a complete university level are found in the Eje Puntano and Oasis sub-regions (Map 3.13). The analysis of both variables shows that the sub-regions with the highest percentages of population with less than elementary education have the lowest percentages of population with complete university education. This corresponds to the sub-regions Pastoril, Travesía, Serranías, and Valle Fértil, far from the large population centres, where the largest number of elementary and university educational establishments are located. On the other hand, sub-regions such as Eje Puntano and Oasis, with low percentages of population with an educational level lower than elementary primary education, show the highest percentages of population with a completed university level, as a result of a richer educational offer at all levels in these sub-regions where the main cities of Cuyo are located. The Minera Norte sub-region presents a peculiarity, since it shows low percentages of the population with less than elementary education, similar to those of the Eje Puntano and Oasis sub-regions, and also presents low percentages of the population with university education. This situation responds to the presence of large establishments (mainly gold mining) that require their employees to have educational levels higher than elementary school. The central offices and their entire hierarchical staff, on the other hand, demand university levels of education. These personnel generally do not work or at least are not registered in the mines, but rather in the central offices located in the cities.

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Map 3.13 Education dimension. University population (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Prepared by the authors based on the 2010 National Census

3.15 Health Dimension Two variables are analyzed: infant mortality rate and the percentage of the population without social security coverage. As regards the former, the sub-regions that present a better situation (with the lowest rates) are Serranías, Valle Fértil, and Oasis. The second step is occupied by the sub-regions of southern Cuyo: Pastoril, Payunia, and Minera Sur. The worst situation is manifested in the high infant mortality rates in the Eje Puntano, Travesía, and Minera Norte sub-regions (Map 3.14). With respect to the population without social security, the Eje Puntano and Oasis sub-regions present the lowest percentages, thus being in a better position than the rest of the sub-regions. The second place is occupied by the sub-regions of southern and western Cuyo, i.e. Pastoril, Payunia, Minera Sur, and Norte. The Travesía, Valle Fértil, and Serranías sub-regions are in the worst scenario, with high percentages of the population without social security (Map 3.15). In both cases, the Oasis sub-region is in a better situation than the others. The Eje Puntano sub-region has a different behaviour, since, in contrast to its high infant mortality rates, it has low percentages of population without social security. The sub-regions of southern Cuyo, Pastoril, Payunia, Minera Sur, and Norte have an average situation between both cases. On the other hand, the Travesía sub-region presents the least favourable situation, since, in addition to high infant mortality rates, it displays high percentages of population without social security.

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Map 3.14 Health dimension. Infant mortality rate (‰). Cuyo region (2009–2011). Source Personal elaboration based on DEIS data. National Health Department

Map 3.15 Health dimension. Population without health insurance (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on 2010 National Census

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Valle Fértil and Serranías have identical behaviour, showcasing the worst situation in the region in terms of the percentage of population without social security and the lowest infant mortality rates.

3.16 Housing Dimension This dimension analyzes the population living in households without toilets and with overcrowding in the sub-regions of the Cuyo region. These same sub-regions, Oasis and Eje Puntano, show the best situation in terms of population residing in households without toilets. At the opposite extreme, there are the sub-regions of Valle Fértil, Travesía, Serranías, Minera Sur, and Payunia with the highest percentages. The Minera Norte and Pastoril sub-regions are in the same segment (Map 3.16). The population living in overcrowded households shows the most critical situation in the sub-regions of Travesía, Valle Fértil, and Minera Norte. In a second group with average percentages, there are the sub-regions of southern Cuyo: Pastoril, Payunia and Minera Sur, to which the Serranías sub-region is added. The best situation is found in the Oasis and Puntano Axis sub-regions, which have the lowest percentages (Map 3.17). Those sub-regions far from the most populated cities have less access to housing with basic infrastructure, with high percentages of overcrowding and households

Map 3.16 Housing dimension. Population in households without toilets (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Prepared by the authors based on the 2010 National Census

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Map 3.17 Housing dimension. Population in overcrowded households (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Prepared by the authors based on the 2010 National Census

without toilets; in general, they correspond to areas with small populations and low socioeconomic levels. These rural areas have high birth rates and scarce resources, which leads to high levels of overcrowding. In contrast, the sub-regions where the main cities are located have greater access to housing with basic infrastructure. On the other hand, the birth rate is lower in urban areas, which has an impact on family size and, consequently, on overcrowding.

3.17 Environmental Dimension Three variables are analyzed in the study of the environmental dimension: naturalbased recreational resources, socially constructed recreational resources, and environmental problems.

3.17.1 Natural-Based Recreational Resources First of all, the region displays a wide diversity of natural-based recreational resources, which include:

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Spas on the banks of rivers and dams. Thermal centres. Snow and ice. Relief. Water mirrors and streams. Parks, green spaces, riverbanks, waterfronts, or outstanding biomes. It is important to highlight that the distribution of these natural resources differs in each sub-region. In this context, the Travesía and Pastoril sub-regions stand out with the presence of few natural-based recreational resources, presenting only some relief formations, such as the Sierra Pie de Palo and the Sierras de Valle Fértil in San Juan province. On the other hand, the following parks or reserves can be highlighted: the Sierra de las Quijadas National Park (with singular geological formations and paleontological remains), the Telteca Floristic and Fauna Reserve (intended to protect the carob tree and the golden eagle, among other species. In its interior, there is also a sector of active dunes called Altos Limpios, freely accessible) and the Ramsar site Lagunas de Guanacache (for the conservation of wetlands and bird and fish species). The sub-regions corresponding to Minera Norte, Minera Sur and Payunia present a favourable situation in the analysis of natural recreational resources, with a great diversity, mainly linked to the landscape, ecological and geomorphological richness of the Andes Mountain Range, with the presence of small lakes, hot springs, and the impressive mountain ranges and their valleys. Because these sub-regions contain a diversity of natural-based recreational resources, each of them is analyzed in detail. First of all, in the Minera Norte sub-region, one of the most important resources of the region is the Aconcagua Provincial Park, where the base and the shelters for the climbing of mountaineers are located. This place shows a great wealth of natural origin: lakes and ponds fed by thaw, moraines, glaciers, plant and bird species. The condor is a protected species characteristic of the area. In the northern extreme of the sub-region, the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve National Park protects the plant and animal species of the scrublands and “cardonales” of the pre-Puna, high Andean and Puna steppes. The condor, guanaco, and vicuña are included in the list of protected species, among others. In addition, El Leoncito National Park displays excellent characteristics for astronomy, which are used by the Carlos Cesco and El Leoncito Observatories. On the other hand, in the Minera Sur sub-region, the Cerro del Plata and the Tupungato, Maipo (and its imposing lake at its foot), and Sosneado volcanoes— among others—are attractions for tourists and local residents. Also, in the southwest of this sub-region, resources related to the presence of geoforms of karstic origin attract a large population: lakes and ponds (Laguna de la Niña Encantada), karst dolines (Pozo de las Ánimas), and caverns (Caverna de las Brujas). Some geoforms of volcanic origin, such as the El Infiernillo lava flow, in the Los Molles valley, and other formations such as the Pincheira Castles, also stand out. With respect to ecological wealth, the creation of natural conservation areas is booming. From the northern end of this sub-region and up to a distance of 250 km

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to the south, protected natural areas are practically continuous: Cordón del Plata and Tupungato provincial parks, Manzano-Portillo de Piuquenes Reserve, Laguna del Diamante Reserve, and Laguna del Atuel Reserve. These areas are suitable to practice activities, such as trekking, horseback riding, and sighting of native fauna (condor and guanacos, among other species). Finally, the Payunia sub-region presents a unique attraction in the Cuyo region: the presence of the Llancanelo and Payún Matrú volcanic fields, of recent Quaternary activity. The former extends through the north of the sub-region, including the volcanoes El Trapal, Carapacho, El Coral, Piedras Blancas, and Malacara. In the transition zone with the Travesía plain is the “Laguna de Llancanelo Provincial Fauna Reserve”, also declared a Ramsar site for its rich fauna. The second volcanic field extends to the south of the first one and it includes the Payún Matrú, Payún Liso, La Herradura, Santa María, and Los Morados volcanoes, among others. We also find in this volcanic field “La Pasarela” (a tourist landmark where the Río Grande crosses, boxed, the lava flow of Cerro Morado), the Escorial de la Media Luna and the Pampas Negras (places where volcanic bombs and lava flows can be found). In the middle of this “lunar” landscape, with colours ranging from black to purple, the presence of animals stands out—for example: piches (Zaedyus pichiy), guanacos (Lama guanicoe), rheas (Rhea pennata), Patagonian hares (Dolichotis patagonum)— and plant species typical of the region—such as the coirón (Festuca gracillima), jarillas (genus Larrea), and tiny ephemeral plants with colourful flowers, of various genera. The Valle Fértil, Serranías, Eje Puntano, and Oasis sub-regions are in an intermediate situation with respect to the analysis of natural recreational resources. Firstly, in the Valle Fértil sub-region, the tourist attractions of the “Ischigualasto Provincial Natural Park and Nature Reserve” stand out, of remarkable paleontological value because fossil remains of species that lived more than 200 million years ago have been found in the area. In addition, in this space the eolian and pluvial erosion drew curious landforms in the rocky landscape, baptized by the popular ingenuity, like “The Mushroom”, “The Sphinx”, or “The Court of Bocce”. The nearby town, where the regional hotel industry is concentrated, is located next to the San Agustín Dam, suitable for “pejerrey” fishing. Meanwhile, the sub-regions of the Serranías and Eje Puntano (belonging to the province of San Luis) present a set of natural-based recreational resources located in the Sierras Puntanas, in the Conlara Valley, and thermal and saline environment. The characteristic places that stand out in the Sierras Puntanas are “Potrero de los Funes” (a reservoir located north of the city of San Luis), “El Volcán” (an area of rivers and waterfalls), and the Siete Cajones spa. In the Conlara Valley, it is situated the city of Merlo, a strong tourist attraction, with the presence of a benign microclimate. This valley also presents the Papagayos Reserve that preserves an important population of palm trees. Meanwhile, in the Puntano Axis, more specifically in the Capital county, there are hot springs. Finally, the Oasis sub-region exhibits great environmental diversity, a product of the dynamic interaction between society and the environment. The main resource of

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Map 3.18 Environmental dimension. Natural-based recreational resources (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on Velázquez and Celemín (2013)

natural origin is mainly related to the assessment the population makes on the water courses. In a region where aridity is the fundamental climatic characteristic, water is a valuable resource: riverbanks become recreational sites during the warm season. This situation is reflected in the activity of the bathing resorts located in the Ullum Dam in San Juan province. In addition, urban parks become recreational sites highly valued by the population, for example, the General San Martín parks in Mendoza province and the Parque de Mayo in San Juan province. The thermal centres of the La Laja locality in the province of San Juan also stand out in this sub-region (Map 3.18).

3.17.2 Socially Constructed Recreational Resources The Cuyo region offers a variety of socially constructed recreational resources that are present in greater or lesser quantity in the sub-regions, with high or low values. Those with low values are Travesía, Valle Fértil, Minera Norte, Pastoril, Serranías, and Eje Puntano. These tourist attractions are related to the historical and cultural heritage of each area. In some desert towns in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan, chapels (San Expedito) and local festivals attract pilgrims. The Difunta Correa, a popular sanctuary near the city of San Juan, is especially popular. Likewise, the lifestyle of

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the population and the local constructions are an attraction: the houses, the corrals, and the “jagüeles” (haystacks). Other recreational resources in the area are related to the tourist activities that take place in the mountain range area, such as the San Martin Routes and the Penitentes ski centre. The Minera Sur, Payunia, and Oasis sub-regions show high values in terms of socially constructed resources. In the Minera Sur sub-region, some of them are associated to water use and others to historical heritage. Among the former, the ski resorts (Vallecitos, in the north of the sub-region, and Las Leñas, in the south) and the El Nihuil reservoir on the Atuel river stand out. Among the latter, the Manzano Histórico Provincial Reserve, which protects the San Martin historical monument, is of great patrimonial importance; in the surrounding areas, the tourist boom has allowed the development of the activity and the growth of the locality through the sale of regional products, cabin rentals, camping sites and activities, such as trekking and horseback riding. On the other hand, in the Payunia sub-region, the resources linked to the archaeological history of the place undoubtedly stand out. At present, you can find “reales” or “pircas”: small stone shelters in which shepherds and their cattle have found protection since historical times. The last sub-region with high values correspond to Oasis, in which socially constructed recreational resources are numerous and diverse. Those linked to the use of water (reservoirs), those of a residential and religious type, and those historical testimonies of the economic activity of the region stand out: the wineries. Many of these, including the pioneers, have remained inserted in urbanized spaces; some have been converted into museums, others have ceded part of the facilities for new uses (for example, party halls), and a few have been demolished; the property being used for commercial facilities and only a few relics of the winery are being preserved as a historical symbol. Sports centres (in clubs and stadiums) and commercial centres (shopping malls) are numerous, mainly in the Greater Mendoza and the Greater San Juan. The construction of shopping centres on plots of land that until a few years ago were relicts of vineyards or olive groves is an increasing trend in land use change in recent years (Map 3.19).

3.17.3 Environmental Problems For the analysis of environmental problems in each sub-region of the Cuyo region, a series of variables are used, detailed as follows: (1) use of pesticides in agriculture; (2) share of industrial activity and mining in the GGP; (3) pollution, noise, congestion; (4) hazardous locations; (5) locations with negative externalities; (6) crime rate; (7) seismicity and volcanism; (8) tornadoes; (9) proportion of population living in flood zones; (10) proportion of population living in slums; (11) proportion of population living within 300 m of dumps; and (12) climate unrest.

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Map 3.19 Environmental dimension. Socially constructed recreational resources (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on Velázquez and Celemín (2013)

The sub-regions of Serranías, Payunia, Minera Sur, and Valle Fértil present the greatest environmental problems in the Cuyo region. These problems are related to economic activities, the socioeconomic situation of the population, activities connected to the subsistence of the local population, and the need to preserve natural resources. Examples of these environmental problems include a high risk of desertification and desertification as a result of water erosion, and livestock pressure that leads to soil erosion. Mining and petroleum activities cause soil and water pollution. On the other hand, in some areas, the process of soil salinization has been generated as a result of the inefficient use of irrigation water and poorly functioning drainage systems. Natural and social risks affect the aforementioned sub-regions, especially volcanic, seismic, and avalanche risks in the first case and poverty and marginalization in the second case. The Oasis sub-region is the only one with low values for environmental problems, although they are still diverse. In the first place, seismic risk stands out, since this area has commonly seismic activity of great magnitude and intensity, a situation that has been reflected on several occasions with earthquakes that devastated the cities of Mendoza and San Juan. Another natural risk is the climate, particularly the occurrence of hail and frost in these sub-regions. On the one hand, the presence of hail during the summer generates substantial economic losses for wine producers. In some places of this sub-region, hail cells are frequently formed, and therefore, one of the government’s preventive measures is the Anti-Hail Campaign. Producers frequently use netting or nets over

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the crops as a protection element. On the other hand, it is important to mention frost as a climatic scourge, which represents a high risk for agricultural activity during the spring. It is important to highlight the alluvial risk for the population living in these subregions. It is not very frequent, but it has disastrous effects. This occurs as a result of the expansion of the urban sprawl towards the foothills, which favours runoff due to the impermeabilization of soils with steep slopes. Alluvial risk increases during the warm season (with greater occurrence of torrential rainfall). As a consequence of the development of intensive irrigated crops, aquifers are salinized and surface water is polluted, aggravated by the inappropriate use of agrochemicals and the lack of control of industrial and sewage effluents. Noise pollution and congestion occur mainly in the Greater Mendoza, the Greater San Juan, and the city of San Rafael. Meanwhile, social problems such as precarious settlements, insecurity, and poverty are commonplace in peri-urban areas. Finally, some hazardous locations should be mentioned, such as industries currently located in residential land use areas and which present negative externalities (for example, landfills or warehouses in peri-urban areas). In the analysis of environmental problems, the Minera Norte, Travesía, Pastoril, and Eje Puntano sub-regions stand out with intermediate values. Since each of these sub-regions is affected by different environmental problems, some of them will be highlighted, differentiating each of the spaces. First, the Minera Norte sub-region is affected by the decrease in the flow of snowcovered streams as a result of climatic variations, as well as the loss of biodiversity, mainly of fauna species, due to hunting and illegal animal trafficking (the most significant case is that of the “vicuña”, a native camelid, an artiodactyl in numerical decline that is protected in the San Guillermo Reserve, which receives the impact of open-pit mining). Even more important is the human risk of contamination by mining waste and processes. The Pastoral sub-region is environmentally rich, typical of the phytogeographic province of the monte and its transition to the “espinal”. However, there is a growing environmental degradation, which began at the end of the nineteenth century with the exploitation of native forests in order to obtain sleepers for the flourishing railroad industry. Currently, the desertification problem emerges from the interrelation between several processes: wind erosion, livestock pressure, use of wood, and firewood resulting in overexploitation of forests (for direct and industrial consumption) and fires caused by droughts. One important matter is the loss of native plant species: “carob” and “caldén” forests are threatened by logging (changes in land use for agriculture) and overgrazing. For this reason, there are two relevant protected areas in the sub-region: the “Caldenales Puntanos Natural Protected Area” (in the province of San Luis) and the “Ñacuñán Biosphere Reserve”, a natural protected area created in 1961 in Mendoza province. Finally, in the Travesía sub-region, the predominance of natural landscapes is due to the scarce occupation, as a result of the inhospitable environmental characteristics. However, the environments have been gradually modified over time owing

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to uncontrolled human activities (extractive activities) and climatic variations. The main environmental problems are: high risk of desertification, deforestation, and the drying up of the Guanacache Lakes complex. The main cause of the latter environmental problem is the construction of reservoirs and the regulation of flows used for irrigation. All of these generate a reduced water supply to the shallow lakes, which also puts the survival of many species at risk, especially birds. The seismic risk of the sub-region is highly relevant, with high rates of occurrence of large magnitude earthquakes, for example in the Sierra Pie de Palo, in the province of San Juan. The city of San Juan was almost totally destroyed by a very powerful earthquake in 1944. This area is affected by arsenic and fluoride contamination of groundwater, which is mostly caused by geological (natural) factors but also by anthropogenic actions. The direct consequence is the high risk of suffering from endemic regional chronic hydroarsenicism and fluorosis, diseases that affect the population that consumes well water. As in the rest of the sub-regions, these areas present social problems rooted in poverty and marginalization of the local population, which is linked to inadequate resource management and increased pressure on the fragile ecosystem due to overgrazing and deforestation (Map 3.20).

Map 3.20 Environmental dimension. Environmental problems (%). Cuyo region (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on Velázquez and Celemín (2013)

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3.18 Quality of Life Index in the Region of Cuyo The variables analysed above, which are framed within the socioeconomic (education, health, and housing) and environmental (natural-based recreational resources, socially constructed, and environmental problems) dimensions, make it possible to construct the quality of life index (2010) for each of the counties that shaped the sub-regions of the Cuyo region. If the situation is examined province by province, San Luis stands out in an unfavourable position, with low quality of life values, followed by San Juan with intermediate values and Mendoza with a favourable situation. The results of this index show spatial differences in each of the sub-regions that lead to grouping them according to their general situation. In the first place, the Travesía, Serranías, and Pastoril sub-regions stand out with low quality of life values. To understand the reason for this situation, it is necessary to analyse some variables that lead the population to these figures. Those areas that are mainly rural, small towns, or transient localities with educational deficiencies, reflected in high percentages of population with less than complete elementary education and inversely low percentages with complete university studies, have a singular weight. They also have high percentages of people who do not have social security and who live in housing with infrastructure deficits (homes without toilets and overcrowding). At the same time, natural and socially constructed recreational resources are limited. The sub-regions corresponding to Valle Fértil, Eje Puntano, and Minera Norte show intermediate quality of life values. Within these sub-regions, Valle Fértil and Minera Norte can be differentiated from Eje Puntano, since they display dissimilar characteristics. On one hand, the sub-regions of Valle Fértil and Minera Norte present intermediate or low values in the dimensions of education, health, housing and environment, while the Puntano Axis, which contains the city of San Luis, is better ranked in the dimensions of education, health, and housing. The Oasis, Minera Sur, and Payunia sub-regions are in a favourable position. The Oasis sub-region shows high quality of life values as a consequence of the presence of cities of greater hierarchy that correspond to the Greater San Juan, the Greater Mendoza, and the city of San Rafael, articulated by important communication routes, such as National Route no. 40. In these cities, the population has access to education and health services, decent housing, socially constructed recreational resources, in addition to fewer environmental problems. With respect to the education dimension, we note a low percentage of the population with less than elementary education and a high percentage of the population with university education. This situation is also reflected in the existence of high percentages of the population with social security and a low infant mortality rate. Most of the population lives in homes with toilets and overcrowding-free. Because they belong to more urbanized areas, they have more socially constructed recreational resources and fewer environmental problems, both of which are mainly linked to the urban way of life.

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Map 3.21 Quality of life index. Cuyo region (2010). Source Prepared by authors based on INDEC 2010, National Ministry of Health 2009–2001 and Velázquez and Celemín (2013)

It is important to point out that as it has been mentioned above, the Minera Sur and Payunia sub-regions, which correspond to areas preferentially occupied by the Andes Mountains, also have a good quality of life, since they have intermediate values in the variables referring to the main socioeconomic dimensions: education, health, and housing. This condition, which is not definitely positive, is compensated by some attractors, such as the presence of a large number of natural and socially constructed recreational resources related to the mountain landscape. This has brought with it a large number of resources that enhance the quality features by favouring activities that improve the economic condition of the population (Map 3.21).

3.19 Conclusions To summarize the main arguments presented in this chapter, we would like to point out the following: The region of Cuyo presents well-defined identity features, marked by a strong historicity, even prior to the Hispanic presence. The predominant desert condition generates a strong imbalance between occupied territories (generally due to artificial irrigation) and ecumenical voids. Therefore, any sub-regionalization (the one chosen is no exception) shows the need to make the populated areas, which are truly separate atoms, compatible with the adjacent desert.

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Thus, areas of high nuclear density—the Oasis—or of strong urban incidence— the Puntano Axis—converge with areas dedicated to mining or extensive cattle raising—Minera Norte, Sur, Payunia, Pastoril—mountainous areas—Valle Fértil and Serranías—and transit areas—Travesía. The quality of life in the region follows these main conditioning factors, which are also related to the presence of population. Advances in technology are currently leading to a reduction in quality problems in remote areas. In fact, this is due to the possibility of fast transfers in powerful vehicles or the recreation of quality environments in inhospitable sites, as is the case in the highly equipped mountain mining establishments. Outside the oases, the regional spaces alternate categories of different qualities. The lack of defined patterns is due to the influence of a sparse population marked by such dissimilar aspects as tourism, mining, pastoral activity or by the influence of an extensive frontier, which projects its data on practically unpopulated spaces.

References Aneas S, Torres J (2014) San Juan (provincia de San Juan): el mapa social a través del análisis factorial. In Buzai GD (Comp.) Mapas Sociales Urbanos. Lugar Editorial, Buenos Aires Arroyo J, Espinosa D, Oliveira M (2007) Geografía de la provincia de San Luis, San Juan, Ediciones Argentina, S. A. (inédito) Atlas Total Clarín de la República Argentina (2008) Mendoza, Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino, vol 17 y 18. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Atlas Total Clarín de la República Argentina (2008) San Juan, Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino, vol 23. Buenos Aires, Argentina Atlas Total Clarín de la República Argentina (2008) San Luis, Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino, vol 24. Buenos Aires, Argentina Beceyro C (2016) La Región de Cuyo. En Geografía y calidad de vida en Argentina Análisis regional y departamental 2010. IGEHCS/CIG, Tandil Bibar G (1966) Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los Reynos de Chile, Santiago de Chile. Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico “José T. Medina” Capitanelli R (Director) (1991) Geografía de San Luis. El hombre y la tierra. Ceyne Editorial. Gobierno de la Provincia de San Luis, Buenos Aires Cepparo M (Coord.) (2000) Rasgos de marginalidad. Diferentes enfoques y aportes para abordar su problemática. Malargüe, un ejemplo motivador. Primera Parte. Editorial de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UNCuyo, Mendoza, pp 19–39 Daus F (1969) Fundamentos para una división regional de la Argentina. Instituto de Geografía, UBA, Buenos Aires Furque G, Cuerda A (1979) Precordillera de La Rioja, San Juan y Mendoza. Geología Regional Argentina 1:455–522. Buenos Aires Gambier M (1976) Instalación humana prehistórica y actual en la Provincia de San Jua. Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) (2015) Datos espaciales. Ministerio de Defensa de la Nación García A (2011) El Camino del Inca entre Tocota y Villa Nueva (Valle de Iglesia, San Juan). CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Juan y Universidad Nacional de Cuyo García A (2017) La vialidad incaica en la Provincia de San Juan (Argentina). Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 22(1):137–150. Santiago de Chile

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Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INDEC) (2010) Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Vivienda 2010. Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas de la Nación Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, Argentina Michieli C (1994) Antigua Historia de Cuyo. Ansilta Editora, San Juan Michieli C (2008) Investigaciones arqueológicas sobre el período agropecuario tardío en la margen derecha del Río Castaño (Calingasta, San Juan). Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología XXXIII, Buenos Aires Pickenhayn J (2002) Integración de Jáchal en el espacio funcional sanjuanino. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes, UNSJ, San Juan Piña F (2014) Al gran pueblo argentino, salud. Planeta, Buenos Aires, p 336 Rey Balmaceda R (1972) Geografía regional: teoría y aplicación. Kapelusz, Buenos Aires Rohmeder W (1943) Argentinien; eine landeskundliche Einführung. Beutelspacher Verlag, Buenos Aires, p 319 Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Nación (2015) Sistema Federal de Áreas Protegidas. Argentina Velázquez G (2001) Geografía, Calidad de Vida y Fragmentación en la Argentina de los noventa. Análisis regional y departamental utilizando SIG’s. Centro de Investigaciones Geográficas, FCH, UNCPBA Velázquez G (2001) Región Pampeana: una aproximación a sus condiciones de Vivienda, educativas, sanitarias y ambientales. Estudios Socioterritoriales, Revista de Geografía, Centro de Investigaciones Geográficas, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, UNCPBA, Tandil, Argentina, AÑO 6, N°6. 2005–2006, 2007 Velázquez G (2008) Geografía y Bienestar. Situación local, regional y global de la Argentina luego del censo de 2001. EUDEBA, Buenos Aires Velázquez G, Celemín JP (2013) La calidad ambiental en la Argentina. CIG, Tandil Velázquez G et al (2014) Calidad de vida en Argentina: ranking del bienestar por departamentos (2010). Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Velázquez G (2016) Geografía y calidad de vida en Argentina Análisis regional y departamental 2010. IGEHCS/CIG, Tandil Videla H (1972) Historia de San Juan. Tomo III. Academia del Plata. Universidad Católica de Cuyo Zamorano M (1971) Cuyo, una región histórica y su moldeamiento geográfico. In: Buenos Aires, Limen, vol IX(31), pp 69 a 72 y (32); pp 99 a 102

Jaime Barcelona PhD in Geography (National University of San Juan). Professor of Seminar II, Environmental Geography and Professional Practice in the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts of the National University of San Juan. Researcher of the Medical Geography Program and Co-director of the Landscape Geography Project of the Faculty of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts at the National University of San Juan. Rosana Castillo Degree in Geography (Universidad Nacional de San Juan) and PhD candidate in Geography (Universidad Nacional de San Juan). Professor of Urban Geography and Rural Geography at the Department of Geography of Facultad de Filosoofía, Humanidades y Artes Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Researcher of the Medical Geography Program and the Landscape Geography Project of the Faculty of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts at the National University of San Juan. Andrea Leceta Teacher of English Language and Literature (Universidad Nacional de San Juan). Tenured faculty member in the English Department of Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Teaches Introduction to Pronunciation and English Phonetics and Phonology I (UNSJ 2001-to date). Her area of interest is in Applied Linguistics. She has been

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Head of the English Department (2012–2016). Currently she is Academic Secretary at Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes Universidad Nacional de San Juan (2016-to date). Ricardo Villavicencio Degree in Geography (Universidad Nacional de San Juan) and PhD student in Geography (Universidad Nacional de San Juan). Professor of Geography Theory 3, Geography Theory 4 and Professional Practice in the Department of Geography of Facultad de Filosoofía, Humanidades y Artes Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Coordinator of the University Diploma in Geography Teaching, Researcher of the Medical Geography Program and Director of the Landscape Geography Project of the Faculty of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts at the National University of San Juan.

Chapter 4

Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires Mariana Marcos and Gustavo Buzai

Abstract The Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires is the first territory of the Argentine settlement system in terms of complexity and importance, comprising a third of its population and is the political-administrative, economic-financial, and service hub of the country. Accordingly, it has always been given a prominent place in national quality of life studies at the level, which since their inception have sought to account for the differences in the quality of life of the population of the region. This chapter serves a dual purpose. In the first place, in continuity with the local literature on the subject and the spatial analysis scale adopted so far, it analyzes the differences in quality of life between the communes of the city of Buenos Aires and the 40 surrounding municipalities (i.e., counties) that make up the region, according to the current definition of its territory. Secondly, it takes advantage of the unprecedented availability of data at the level of small geo-statistical units to study for the first time the phenomenon of inequality in the quality of life of the population on a microspatial scale. For the study at the county level, the most current and complex version of the quality of life index (QLI) was used, which includes the traditional socioeconomic dimension, but also an environmental dimension, and has been enhanced by adopting an expanded definition of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires, which now covers 40 municipalities of the Province of Buenos Aires. For the microspatial study, the lower availability of information for small geo-statistical units made it is necessary to use a simplified quality of life indicator, which was applied to the agglomeration known as Greater Buenos Aires, the main population settlement in the region. The county analysis yielded results consistent with the literature, but the adoption of the current definition of the Metropolitan Region evinced a variety of situations in the outer ring of counties that depart from the center-periphery configuration prevalent in the main nucleus of the region. On the other hand, the results of the M. Marcos (B) National University of Buenos Aires, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] G. Buzai National University of Lujan, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_4

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micro-spatial analysis of the quality of life in the socio-economic dimension revealed a spatial configuration linked to the process of population of the city already documented by previous studies which analyzed the socio-economic differentials from other theoretical perspectives. As to the environmental dimension, the situations of greatest disadvantage were found in the vicinity of the watercourses that cross the city and in interstitial areas of more recent settlements. The final panorama yielded by the aggregate index was interpreted in light of the distinctive modeling aspects of today’s larger Latin American cities, among which stand out such traits as the annular behavior of quality of life indicators, multiple nuclei, and fragmentation. Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires · Subregions · Counties

4.1 Introduction The Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (MRBA) is paradoxically recognized as the first territory of Argentina in terms of importance and complexity and, at the same time, that on whose limits there is the most uncertainty. In an attempt to cover the municipalities over which the main urban area of the country spreads, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) coined the definition of MRBA currently used in the National Statistical System, according to which the region is made up of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 24 surrounding “partidos” (administrative sub-divisions of the province) or counties, arranged in two belts around it (Table 4.1 and Map 4.1). However, the urban area continued to encroach on the surrounding countryside and soon exceeded the boundaries of the original MRBA. In this context, different areas of public management, academic and even private, have proposed alternative definitions of MRBA that coexist with that formulated by INDEC, without any of them having gained acceptance above the rest. The definition used here is that advanced by the Province of Buenos Aires, which updates that of INDEC and covers the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 40 surrounding “partidos” (the two rings of the so-called 24 Partidos of Greater Buenos Aires and a third ring of 16 additional “partidos”) to include all the counties to which the main city extends at present and other neighboring municipalities (Table 4.1 and Map 4.1). Thus defined, the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires is a set of 41 contiguous counties with 14,839,026 inhabitants (INDEC 2010), whose area of 14,034 square kilometers (including insular areas) covers several human settlements that cut across the countryside, among which is the main city of the country. These human settlements are called population “agglomerations”, defined as “the area comprised by a rim that surrounds a continuous urban spot in all its extension” (INDEC 1999, p. 2). The map shows that the territory of the MRBA encompasses a large urban spot and several others of much smaller size. In fact, the core of the MRBA is the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration (GBAA), which according to

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Table 4.1 Composition, population, and area of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires according to INDEC and the Province of Buenos Aires INDEC

Province of Buenos Aires

Population

12,806,866

14,839,026

Area (km2 )*

3983

14,034

Municipalities (i.e., counties)

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 24 Counties of the Greater Buenos Aires

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 24 Counties of the Greater Buenos Aires

Almirante Brown

Almirante Brown

Avellaneda

Avellaneda

Berazategui

Berazategui

Esteban Echeverría

Esteban Echeverría

Ezeiza

Ezeiza

Florencio Varela

Florencio Varela

General San Martín

General San Martín

Hurlingham

Hurlingham

Ituzaingó

Ituzaingó

José C. Paz

José C. Paz

La Matanza

La Matanza

Lanús

Lanús

Lomas de Zamora

Lomas de Zamora

Malvinas Argentinas

Malvinas Argentinas

Merlo

Merlo

Moreno

Moreno

Morón

Morón

Quilmes

Quilmes

San Fernando

San Fernando

San Isidro

San Isidro

San Miguel

San Miguel

Tigre

Tigre

Tres de Febrero

Tres de Febrero

Vicente López

Vicente López 16 additional counties Berisso Brandsen Campana Cañuelas Ensenada Escobar Exaltación de la Cruz (continued)

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Table 4.1 (continued) INDEC

Province of Buenos Aires General Las Heras General Rodríguez La Plata Luján Marcos Paz Pilar Presidente Perón San Vicente Zárate

* Includes

the Paraná Delta islands Source Own elaboration based on INDEC (2003, 2010) and DPOUyT (2007)

Map 4.1 Municipalities and rings. Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires. Source Own elaboration based on Google Earth satellite images and INDEC cartography, 2017

data from the latest Population Census (INDEC 2010) has 13,588,171 inhabitants, and concentrates more than 90% of the population of the region and a third of the population of Argentina. Among the secondary agglomerations of the Metropolitan Region that surround the GBAA are the Greater La Plata (787,294 inhabitants) and some heads of municipalities such as Zárate (with 98,522 inhabitants and closely linked to its neighbor Campana, which comprises another 86,860), Luján (97,363 inhabitants), Cañuelas (29,974 inhabitants), and Las Heras (11,331 inhabitants). In

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other words, the Metropolitan Region, as defined here, includes both the main city or agglomeration of the country and the surrounding territory which can be regarded as closely linked to it, to the point that some authors propose the term metropolis-region for these “true urban archipelagos of diffuse borders” which also contain empty or half-empty spaces (De Mattos 1998, p. 723) and which the current literature points out as particularly dynamic during the last decades. The demographic, economic, and political primacy of the Metropolitan Region dates back to the colonial period, but its consolidation took place after the crisis of 1930, when import-substitution industrialization (ISI) began, which attracted large population masses from the interior of the country to the more industrially developed agglomerations, especially the GBAA (Lattes 2007). During this stage, the main elements that gave the region its particular structure were private productive enterprises of the factory type and public policies concerning transport, housing, soil management, and industrial promotion. Attracted by the availability of services, labor force, and a large consumer market, factories in Buenos Aires Province settled outside the CABA, and to a lesser extent in the peri-urban area of La Plata and Zárate-Campana, forming a surrounding ring, and served in turn as an attraction factor for workers who created working-class residential areas in their vicinity (Briano et al. 2003). However, starting in the 1970s, the Argentine settlement system began to show transformations associated with changes in the productive matrix that the country underwent, and for the next three decades, a decrease occurred in Buenos Aires’ capacity to employ industrial labor and population growth rate (Vapñarsky 1995; Rofman 1999, 2005; Meichtry 2007), to the point that some authors speak of the beginning of a process of counter-urbanization or counter-primacy (Meichtry 2007), or at least of a post-expansion stage (Gorelik 2009). At present, large Latin American cities such as Buenos Aires have renewed their appeal in a way “associated with the intensification of the mobility of an increasingly autonomous capital, which shows a clear preference for those places endowed by their productive history with greater endogenous potential and, therefore, greater productive fertility” (De Mattos 1998, p. 723); and although they did not grow again at the previous rates, many—including Buenos Aires—break their downward demographic trend and the percentage of the population recorded in them increases again (Marcos and Chiara 2019). In short, the multidimensional primacy of the MRBA occurred early and became permanent, and not only were the macro-economic ups and downs of the long, dense, and vertiginous twentieth century (Torrado 2008) unable to prevent it, but after the transition from the intense industrial glow to the apparent liberalizing sunset, the last Census of 2010 showed that the population of the Metropolitan Region had increased again.

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4.2 Background on Quality of Life Studies in the Region Current quality of life studies at the national level are often focused on the MRBA. The pioneering works in this regard are those of Velázquez (2001a, 2001b), who for the first time had departmental information to distinguish the MRBA and was able to account for some well-defined patterns: the CABA, together with the counties of the northeast coast, have the highest levels of quality of life, and the quality of life decreases from that nucleus toward the periphery. These first works of the author constitute the foundations of what would become a prolific line of studies: the operationalization of the concept of quality of life, national coverage, the departmental scale, and a zoom-in on the main urban areas of the country, with the MRBA among them. Since then, substantial progress has been made in the operationalization of the concept, which continues to include the socio-economic dimension, but has also incorporated an environmental dimension (Table 4.2) for regional and sub-regional analysis, with contributions from specialists in different regions and urban areas, and the adoption of more sophisticated statistical techniques. The departmental level is still considered in the analysis scale, but advances have also been made in adapting the index to smaller geo-statistical units (census fractions and radii) (Table 4.2). As for the Metropolitan Region, in particular, successive works carried out by researchers specially convened for this purpose have shed light on its quality of life and its internal heterogeneities. The first of these specific studies on the MRBA dates from between the late 2000s and the early 2010s, when Osvaldo Morina, Claudia Baxendale, and Gustavo Buzai advanced the socio-spatial analysis of the quality of life in the MRBA, using information generated by the Geographic Research Center of the National University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires, from data of the census of population and vital statistics of 2001 (Morina et al. 2008; Baxendale et al. 2012). In these works, the authors followed the definition of the MRBA provided by the INDEC (Table 4.1), which covers the CABA and 24 surrounding “partidos” (i.e., counties), and carried out a regionalization that allowed them to arrange the spatial units in seven groups with high correlation in the behavior of the nine variables used at the time in the calculation of the quality of life index. In the mid-2010s, the same authors updated and deepened their analysis of the MRBA (Baxendale et al. 2016). Their new work covers an expanded study area that considers 30 “partidos” of the Province of Buenos Aires instead of 24, and it is spatially more disaggregated, since it considers the internal division of CABA into the 15 communes that constitute it and is based on a more up-to-date QLI, whose time reference is the year 2010 and which now incorporates the environmental dimension, previously excluded. This new regionalization provided eleven groups that present stable situations when contrasted with the initial result of previous investigations on the MRBA. Taken together, the regionalizations obtained from the application of multivariate analyses to the 2001 and 2010 data provide patterns that persist over time and can

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Table 4.2 Quality of life index by county and its adaptation to the level of census radio Departmental scale (525 units in the country)

Census radii scale (48,853 units in the country)

Dimensions (2) and variables (6 socio-economic + 23 environmental) Availability and methodological strategy Socio-economic dimension Socio-economic quality index

Housing Health

Education

No toilet

Yes

Overcrowding

Yes

Infant mortality rate No Strategy: imputed rates from department to radii No health care

Yes (sample) Strategy: included at the fraction level, given the randomness at the radius level

Less than primary

Yes

University or higher Yes complete Environmental dimension Natural-based Environmental quality recreational resources index

Average score of 7 variables

No Strategy: imputed scores from department to radii

Socially constructed Average score of 4 recreational variables resources

No Strategy: imputed scores from department to radii

Environmental issues

Average score of 12 3 variables available by variables fractions: garbage dumps, flooding, and slums Strategy: imputed scores from fraction to radii. Three variables used as a proxy of the dimension

Source Own elaboration based on Celemín et al. (2021)

therefore be considered structural (Baxendale et al. 2016). Focusing on extreme situations, Avellaneda, the CABA, General San Martín, Hurlingham, Ituzaingó, Lanús, Morón, San Fernando, San Isidro, Tres de Febrero, and Vicente López present the best QLI values both in 2001 and in 2010; and, conversely, Berazategui, Esteban Echeverría, Ezeiza, Florencio Varela, José C. Paz, Malvinas Argentinas, Merlo, Moreno, San Miguel, and Tigre show the worst situation.

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The fact that the way in which the Geographic Research Center of the National University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires measures the quality of life has changed between 2001 and 2010 preventing a diachronic analysis of the relative positions that the municipalities obtain from their QLI scores. However, broadly speaking, the comparison of the data corresponding to those two years seems to show that Berazategui, Escobar, Ezeiza, Malvinas Argentinas, Merlo, Pilar, Quilmes, San Fernando, and Tigre have improved their situation, while Almirante Brown, Avellaneda, General Rodríguez, Hurlingham, Marcos Paz, Presidente Perón, and San Vicente have worsened it. The greatest change seems to be taking place mainly in “partidos” (i.e., counties) toward the outer periphery of the region, while the central areas—including the whole of the CABA—remained stable.

4.3 The Quality of Life in the Municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires For the study of quality of life at the departmental level, the quality of life index is available, based on indicators of housing, health, education, recreational resources of different types, and environmental problems (Table 4.2). In Map 4.2, this is presented at the departmental level (communes of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and partidos of the Province of Buenos Aires), distinguishing four levels of quality of life according to national quartiles. As a first feature, widely diverse levels of quality of life can be observed within the small territory of the MRBA: there are both communes and partidos belonging to the group of departments with the highest quality of life in the country, as well as others belonging to the group with the lowest quality of life. Secondly, the quality of life does not exhibit a random spatial behavior in the MRBA, but follows well-defined patterns (Map 4.2), already observed by previous works: A very high quality of life is found only in a small compact nucleus made up of the communes of the center and north of the CABA and its continuation on the north coast, in the counties of Vicente López and San Isidro; adjacent to this area, there appears an area of quality of life also high, but somewhat lower, integrated by the rest of the communes of the CABA, located in the center-east and the south, with the important exception of Commune 8, located in the southwest; La Plata, on the other hand, stands out as a node of high quality of life split from the Buenos Aires nucleus; an intermediate quality of life area appears in the first ring of municipalities around the CABA and some outer municipalities which do not belong to the GBAA sphere, such as Zárate and Campana in the north, Luján in the west, and Brandsen in the south; and finally, low levels of quality of life affect the second and third ring of municipalities in the west and south of the region. In general terms, at the level of the communes of the CABA and the partidos of the rest of the metropolis, the quality of life tends to decrease from the center to the

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Map 4.2 Quality of life index (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017) and data from Velázquez (2016)

periphery of the region, describing concentric rings around the nucleus of privileged conditions made up by the communes of the center and north of the CABA and the municipalities of Vicente López and San Isidro. However, at the same time, the third ring of municipalities contains counties that have their own peculiarities and reach intermediate levels of quality of life (such as Zárate and Campana, Luján, and Brandsen) and even high levels (La Plata). That is to say, a spatial configuration of the quality of life of the center-periphery is observed in those municipalities within the sphere of the GBAA. But, there are particular situations in the third ring of municipalities, which have as their population nuclei agglomerations independent of the GBAA. On the other hand, just as very different levels of quality of life can be observed between the municipalities of the MRBA, the data concerning the communes of the CABA show that there can be very different situations too within a municipality. On a different scale, at the micro-spatial level, the line of work that has studied the internal socio-spatial heterogeneity of Argentine cities also gives hints of this. Since the 1970s, these studies have primarily focused on socio-economic residential segregation in Argentine cities rather than the quality of life, as defined in this book. They have revealed significant differences and diverse spatial patterns within urban areas. Until now, the micro-spatial study of intra-urban quality of life and the confrontation of such findings with the national context has been a pending account. But today there is for the first time a quality of life index at the level of small geo-statistical

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units, which constitutes a valuable opportunity to settle this debt and complement the study of the counties of the MRBA with a micro-spatial analysis of the GBAA. This is precisely the purpose of the following pages.

4.4 The Quality of Life in the Interior of the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration 4.4.1 Background Focused on Socio-Economic Status The internal heterogeneity of the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration has been extensively studied, but in a very limited way considered from the theoretical approach of quality of life (Velázquez 2016). The first efforts to define the social map of Buenos Aires—that is, to determine how the population differs spatially according to its socio-economic level in the main city of the country—date back four decades, when Horacio Torres (Torres 1978) took the first steps in this direction, adopting a perspective that can be placed between urban planning, social geography and urban sociology. His main explanatory hypothesis holds that the configuration of the metropolitan space is a product of the interaction between the territory—or natural environment modified by the action of man—and the social organization of production and consumption (Torres 1993). Always from this perspective, throughout his research on Buenos Aires, the author explored the socio-economic and housing conditions of the population and the infrastructural physical support (Abba 2011). Torres’ research program on Buenos Aires can be considered a precedent of the current line of research on urban social maps, which evolved toward a modeling study of the city and covered both Buenos Aires and other large urban areas of the country and Latin America (Buzai 2014). The proliferation of studies on the GBAA—and on many other cities in the country—both macro-social, as they address the city as a whole, and micro-spatial, to the extent that the concern is to make visible the social differences at the level of small spatial units, began toward the mid-2000s, when the first Argentine census database in digital format was published. Efforts ranged from updating Torres’ social map based on univariate or multivariate indicators of socio-economic status (Thuiller 2005; Groisman and Suárez 2009; Buzai and Marcos 2012; Abba et al. 2015, Rodríguez 2016; Marcos and Mera 2018) to works that include the socio-economic level but also explore other demographic dimensions of the socio-spatial structure of the city (Marcos 2015), or even model its socio-spatial structure (Buzai and Marcos 2014). According to the most recent work by Marcos and Mera (2018), using data from the last population census of 2010, currently the core of the GBAA is an area of high or very high socio-economic level made up of: (a) the center and north of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires; (b) the northern coastal municipalities (Vicente López and San Isidro); and (c) the central areas of the rest of the municipalities, located along the railway communication routes that boosted the growth of the city

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during the industrial period (1930–1970). From this nucleus and its radial ramifications, the socio-economic level progressively degrades toward the periphery and the interstices—zones between the growth axes—of the city. Thus, the areas of intermediate socio-economic level function as a prelude to the most degraded areas, which have the poorest communication channels with the main center and the secondary centralities of the city. This general pattern is fundamentally interrupted by two types of habitat: informal urbanizations, which are environments of very low socio-economic status and generalized irregular land tenure (some of longstanding) and sometimes appear as enclaves or islands of poverty in contexts of high socio-economic status; and gated housing estates, which are closed neighborhoods promoted by private developers on the outskirts of the agglomeration and intended for families with greater economic resources and which since the late twentieth century have burst with force in areas traditionally reserved for working-class sectors. Overall, the works mentioned have made important advances in the knowledge of the internal socio-spatial heterogeneity of the GBAA, based on the socio-economic level of its population. However, in all cases, living conditions are addressed in a limited way to the exclusion of environmental quality. This dimension is increasingly valued by the population as a constituent component of the quality of urban life. Likewise, the view is circumscribed to the GBAA, which means that the categories of socio-economic level are constructed in these works in a relational way, but consider only the relative situations that can be found in the city and exclude the rest of the country, thus preventing an appreciation of the position of the city—and its parts— in relation to other urban areas of the country and the whole of Argentina. The initiative of Velázquez (2016) to build a multidimensional quality of life index at the level of small geo-statistical units is a great opportunity to overcome these last two limitations.

4.4.2 Adapting the Quality of Life Index to the Micro-spatial Scale The hard work done by Celemín et al. (2021) has as its starting point the QLI at the departmental level that the authors had previously designed (Velázquez 2016) and consisted in adapting that first methodological development to a new scale of analysis—the smaller geo-statistical units for which the National Statistical System publishes information, called census radii. The INDEC defines radii as “census units, which are part of the census survey structure, defined by a territorial space with geographical limits and a certain number of housing units to be surveyed” (INDEC 2015, s/d) and establishes that in urban areas, a radius has on average 300 homes, but can go down to 200 homes on the edges of the city, where the density is lower. The main difficulty that Celemín et al. (2021) had to overcome was the availability of information to replicate their QLI, which, on this new scale, is much smaller.

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As summarized in Table 4.2, the authors had at their disposal only six variables at the level of census radii out of a total of 29 variables on which the departmental QLI is based: those related to housing (percentage of population in households without toilets and in overcrowded households) and education (percentage of population with educational level less than primary or university or higher), all of them belonging to the socio-economic dimension of the QLI. In the rest of the cases, information was available for larger space units, and the authors had to implement a number of strategies to incorporate them into the index at the level of census radius. Thus, in the case of the percentage of the population without social health care and three of the indicators for environmental problems (garbage dump, flooding, and precarious settlements), they had information at the level of census fractions (geostatistical units that come after the radii in size), and it was this data that they imputed to the radii, according to their fraction of belonging; in the case of the infant mortality rate and recreational resources (both natural and socially constructed), they had the information at the level of communes and counties, and they imputed this data to the radii, according to their commune or partido of belonging; and in the case of the remaining nine indicators of environmental problems, they had the information at the departmental level and decided to exclude it and take as a proxy for this aspect of environmental quality the three indicators that were available at the fraction level. In other words, due to the way in which the QLI is built, the micro-spatial nuances of quality of life have to do fundamentally with education and housing, and to a lesser extent with some aspects of health and environmental problems, while other socio-economic and environmental aspects of quality of life refer to thicker spatial differences at the department level. The data relating to the GBAA presented below correspond to the partial results of the constituent indicators of the QLI at the level of census radius or, at most, of fraction, and to the final QLI. In all cases, the levels assumed by the indicators are established based on national data; that is to say, the maps reflect the position of each area of the city in relation to the national levels of the indicator that is represented.

4.4.3 Results of the Implementation of the QLI The indicators of the socio-economic dimension of quality of life, namely of housing, health care, and education (Maps 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8), present a spatial configuration in the GBAA that is clearly linked to the process of population of the city (Map 4.3). Broadly speaking, the houses with toilets and size according to that of the households that reside in them, the highest levels of social, mutual, or prepaid health care and of education coincide in the portion of the city that was already populated toward the end of the 1940s. It is a continuous sector of the city which encompasses the CABA and its first conurbation outside its current limits and which was structured around the main railway and automotive communication routes that connected the wide peripheries with the center of the agglomeration.

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Map 4.3 Settlement of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires 1895–2010 (selected years) and main communication routes. Source Own elaboration based on historical cartography by Vapñarsky (2000, digitized by Rodríguez and Kosak 2014) and Marcos (2011) and cartography of communication routes of the IGN (2015, 2016)

By 1950, the process of industrialization of the country had been ongoing for two decades, and the transformations this caused in the main urban centers were considerable. In Buenos Aires, the industrial belt that surrounds the CABA was on its way to consolidation, mainly to the south, west, and northwest; and the population arriving from the interior of the country attracted by a thriving labor market no longer found vacant land in the CABA and so settled on its periphery, along the communication routes that allowed them to commute daily from their place of residence to their place of work (Rey Balmaceda 1964; Vapñarsky 1995; Briano et al. 2003; Lattes 2007). In the process of suburbanization of the working-class areas, a leading role was played, on the one hand, by the subsidy to urban transport—mainly the railway— which functioned as an indirect subsidy to suburban residential land, in that it lowered the costs of daily commuting (Torres 2001); and, on the other, the expansion of the initial grid of the CABA and other nearby populated areas through the division into lots of formerly rural land through a permissive legislative framework which allowed workers to access their own land and self-promote—and sometimes, self-build—their homes there (Prevot Schapira 2002; Torres 2001). As a result, old towns and small towns that orbited around the GBAA ended up becoming part of it and functioning as subcentralities, while retaining their role as heads of municipalities. In summary, what today appears as the area with the best housing, greater coverage of a private healthcare system and the highest level of education, is made up of the

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Map 4.4 Percentage of population in households without a toilet by census radius (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Personal elaboration on the basis of INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

center of the CABA and its pre-industrial conurbation, the main municipal heads of the counties of Greater Buenos Aires, and the residential areas that correspond to the first industrial expansion of the city (the 1930s and 1940s). Subsequently, the GBAA would continue its expansive dynamics, but the territory thus incorporated into the city never reached the levels of urban consolidation of those already existing in 1950. Apart from these general issues, the indicators of the socio-economic dimension of quality of life present some nuances. In the first place, it should be noted that these two indicators, dwellings without toilets and population without complete primary education, are suitable for distinguishing levels of quality of life throughout the country and at different times, but they are insufficient for the current reality of large urban centers like Buenos Aires, where the percentages of the population that present these conditions are low. In today’s metropolitan context, both indicators work by identifying those highly degraded areas where living conditions are most extreme in a negative sense and do not account for a gradient of situations. That is to say, at present, not having a toilet or not having finished primary schooling are current problems in other contexts of the country and an exceptional situation in this large city. Secondly, overcrowding, in general, follows the spatial behavior described for the set of indicators of socio-economic level, with the proviso that it is also frequent in the center-east of the CABA, where the administrative and business center and the

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Map 4.5 Percentage of population in overcrowded households by census radius (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

old colonial city are located. There historically deficient forms of housing persist, such as rooms in tenement houses and hotel-pensions, in which households often live overcrowded (Marcos and Del Río 2022). Finally, one cannot fail to point out the fact that the maps reveal a strong fragmentation in the northern periphery of the GBAA (much lower in the west and south), which is particularly evident in the map of the percentage of the population with a university level of education or higher. This is linked to the closed residential developments that have proliferated in the area since the 1990s, promoted entirely— including in relation to urban infrastructure—by private developers and aimed at the population of the upper-middle and upper sectors of the social structure (Torres 1998, 2001; Ciccolella 1999; Svampa 2001; Thuillier 2005; Vidal Koppmann 2008). It is a shift of the edges of the city that expands its surface and involves processes of suburbanization as in the past, but of a different nature, to the extent that its protagonists are not the working-class sectors but the elites, and the urban area developed has fenced perimeters, appears sometimes in a discontinuous way with respect to the rest of the urban grid, and is only integrated into it via highways. The task of measuring the environmental dimension of quality of life at the microspatial level (Map 4.9) was highly conditioned by the information available. Celemín et al. (2021) were only able to access the data on flooding problems, precarious settlements, and garbage dumps provided by the population census at the census fraction level. On this basis, they achieved what they considered an approach to environmental

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Map 4.6 Percentage of the population without social, private or mutual health care by census radius (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

problems, which are constitutive of the environmental dimension of quality of life, but do not define it completely, since from their perspective it also encompasses the availability of recreational resources, both natural and socially constructed. Thus defined and graduated according to national values, the index of environmental problems has made it possible to identify very critical and localized situations in the GBAA, but not a gradient of environmental conditions (Map 4.9). The spatial overlap of flooding problems, slums, and garbage dumps occurs, fundamentally, on the banks of the main watercourses: the Matanza-Riachuelo and Reconquista basins, the Sarandí stream, and the Río de la Plata. With the exception of the coast of the Río de la Plata, these are interstitial areas of recent settlement; that is to say, they were not initially served by the railway network, and the population avoided them until the most vulnerable households were forced to occupy them, generating situations of profound spatial injustice, where the most severe socio-economic and environmental problems coincide in the urban space. Finally, Map 4.10 presents the quality of life index in the radii of the GBAA, which synthesizes all the partial aspects of quality of life analyzed so far. To complete the map, two types of habitat which, by definition, constitute opposite poles of metropolitan quality of life have been superimposed:

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Map 4.7 Percentage of the population aged 15 years and above with incomplete primary education level by census radius (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

• informal urbanizations, produced by working-class settlement modalities and characterized by their location on degraded lands, initial irregularity in the occupation of the land, scarce to no urban infrastructure and services, and predominance of self-built housing. They can be heterogeneous in terms of the regularity of their grid, their population density and the level of consolidation of housing, provision of infrastructure and services, giving rise to subtypes (slums and settlements) (RPPVA 2015). • closed urbanizations, which are urban developments of restricted access, enclosed by walls and guarded barriers, intended for primary or secondary residential use of upper-middle to upper-income households. In general, they are promoted by large urban developers and are located in suburban areas close to highways. The size of the lots and the infrastructure commonly used by residents can differ greatly according to the subtype of gated community (countries, country clubs, and farms) and the social sector for which they are intended. In all cases, the public space is privatized, since streets and places of recreation cannot be used freely by people from outside the neighborhood (Roitman 2003). At first glance, the spatial analysis of the quality of life reveals two predominant configurations: (1) better relative situation of the central areas above the degraded peripheries; and (2) micro-space contrasts in the north and the edges of the city.

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Map 4.8 Percentage of the population aged 15 years and above without complete universitylevel education by census radii (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

The centralities (plural) of the CABA and the first ring of municipalities that surround it, and their vicinities, are the areas with the highest levels of quality of life. The central and northern thirds of the CABA, as well as the counties of Vicente López and San Isidro, constitute a compact nucleus of very high quality of life; that is to say, residing in any one of these three municipalities implies a difference in terms of quality of life. Outside this area, the quality of life is also very high in the heads of the municipalities of San Martín, Tres de Febrero, San Fernando, and Tigre in the north, Morón, Hurlingham, Ituzaingó, and San Miguel in the west, and Lomas de Zamora, Almirante Brown, and Quilmes in the south, all of them arranged along the railway line that connects them with the center of the CABA. On the other hand, the quality of life is also high, although somewhat lower, in most of the southern third of the CABA and the vicinity of the subcentralities of the conurbation and the railroad tracks in general. Thus, as a whole, a high to very high quality of life level is distinctive of the nucleus formed by the CABA, Vicente López, and San Isidro, and from there it enters the conurbation describing axes that follow the railroad tracks. That nucleus and its tentacles are surrounded by a medium quality of life ratio, which functions as a brief transition to the broad degraded periphery of low quality of life. In this regard, it should be clarified that the peripheral condition of the areas is best

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Map 4.9 Environmental quality index by census fraction (quartiles). Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), IDE Conurbano, and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

defined by their connectivity with urban centers and subcenters and not so much by their physical distance from them. The gated urbanizations, which by definition have a high quality of life, are located on the periphery following two patterns: in the west and in the south of the GBAA, they function as the outer edge of the city; that is, they are located beyond the last, low quality of life neighborhoods of the regular open urban grid, and before the surrounding countryside. In the north, on the other hand, they are interspersed in the open urban grid of low quality of life, fragmenting it with their walls and perimeter fences. In both cases, closed urbanizations generate contrasts on a micro-space scale, but it is in the north where they generate the greatest conflicts, breaking the continuity of the compact urban fabric. Finally, informal housing estates, which by definition have a very low quality of life, generally occur in small interstitial areas of low quality of life. In this sense, they can be regarded as being in the worst situation in the most disadvantaged contexts. The slums of the CABA are the exception to this, being located in the communes of the south, but also in spatially bounded areas of the east and center, of very high quality of life. These last cases stand out, as they combine situations of deep housing deficit with privileged access to the labor market and the services and infrastructures of the center.

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Map 4.10 Quality of life index by census radius (quartiles), informal urbanizations and gated urbanizations. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, 2010. Source Own elaboration based on INDEC cartography (2017), Marcos (2011), RPPVAP (2015), and urBAsig (s/d), and data from UNCPBA and CONICET (2019)

4.5 Conclusions The spatial distribution observed in the quality of life index in 2010, both at the level of counties and communes of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (Map 4.2) and at that of small spatial units of the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration (Map 4.10), offers the possibility of generalizing its interpretation when considered in relation to modeling aspects found in the study of Latin American cities (Buzai and Marcos 2012). The first map shows a clear center-periphery differentiation that had already been documented by previous studies, according to which in the Metropolitan Region the following can be found: (a) a sector of very high quality of life that starts in the center of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and develops linearly toward the northern coast, reaching Vicente López and San Isidro; (b) a sector adjacent to the previous one of high quality of life, which occupies the communes of the south of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (with the important exception of Commune 8, of average quality of life); and (c) two peripheral rings of medium- and lowquality municipalities, respectively. As exceptions to this general pattern, there are municipalities of the third ring that are not reached by the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration, but have as their head other agglomerations of medium and even

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high quality of life. If this third ring of counties is ignored, the spatial configuration of the QLI values shows a decrease from the center to the periphery of the region. This annular behavior was pointed out by Griffin and Ford (1980) and by Ford (1996) as the distinctive feature of the cities of Anglo-Saxon America, that is, of the industrial city model (Sjoberg 1960), but with an inverse socio-spatial distribution. The second map concentrates on the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration and expands the level of detail with the use of small spatial units based on census radii. This new scale of analysis allows us to appreciate a structure of multiple nuclei with very high quality of life levels, which coincides with the different intra-urban centers. The best situations are related to centrality and accessibility, not only of the main center, but of many localities that have put behind their past as independent towns and small cities to end up physically joining today’s Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration. The following quality of life levels shows an annular spatial distribution from these centralities. However, on this basis, a high degree of internal fragmentation can be seen in the agglomeration, comparable to the final stage in the Latin American city model of Borsdorf (2003). The extreme northern periphery of the agglomeration shows the highest concentration of gated urbanizations. These residential estates multiplied markedly at the pace of the process of suburbanization of the upper-middle and upper social classes, generating what Janoschka (2002) has called the “island city” model. There is a circuit of high-speed vehicular urban connectivity with limited access and use subject to the payment of tolls (highways) that links closed spaces for a number of uses: residential (gated urbanizations of different types), commercial (shopping centers), recreational (clubs), educational (private schools and universities), and even final destination (private cemeteries). Gated urbanizations appear in the northern sector of the last map as islands of wealth amid the poverty of residential areas with lower quality of life. In the early days of Geography as a spatial science, Schaefer (1953) regarded the region as the laboratory where general theories should be tested. In this chapter, we have been able to see how Buenos Aires, as the main agglomeration of the most important region of Argentina, shows the distinctive features of today’s large Latin American cities present in urban models (Buzai 2014): centrality (main center and subcenters), linearity (corridors, expansion zones, and edges), accessibility (rings and sectors), fragmentation (split interior areas), and dispersion (diffuse outer areas). The analysis of the spatial distribution of the quality of life of the population shows that the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires, once again, has had primacy as the main urban laboratory in Argentina.

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INDEC (1999) Municipio, localidad y departamento: tres conceptos que suelen confundirse. Municipium (3) INDEC (2017) Cartografía de Total país por departamento (version 8/02/2017). INDEC, Buenos Aires INDEC (2003) ¿Qué es el Gran Buenos Aires? [en línea]. INDEC, Buenos Aires INDEC (2010) Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2010. Base de datos REDATAM INDEC (2015) Unidades Geoestadísticas. Cartografía y códigos geográficos del Sistema Estadístico Nacional. Definiciones. Available at: https://geoservicios.indec.gob.ar/codgeo/index.php?pag ina=definiciones Janoschka M (2002) Stadt der Inseln. Buenos Aires: Abschottung und Fragmentierung als Kennzeichen eines neuen Stadtmodells. Raumplanung 25(101):65–70 Lattes A (2007) Esplendor y ocaso de las migraciones internas. In: Torrado S (ed) Población y bienestar en Argentina del primero al segundo Centenario. Una historia social del siglo XX. Edhasa, Buenos Aires Marcos M, Chiara C (2019) El crecimiento de la población de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (2001–2010): componentes, especificidades territoriales y procesos urbanos. RELAP (24) Marcos M, Mera G (2018) La dimensión territorial de las desigualdades sociodemográficas en Buenos Aires. Voces en el Fénix (71):14–23 Marcos M (2011) Base cartográfica para el estudio de diferencias intraurbanas en la Aglomeración Gran Buenos Aires: procedimientos técnicos para su realización. Geografía y Sistemas de Información Geográfica (Geosig) 3(3):1–21 Marcos M (2015) Estructura socioespacial de la Aglomeración Gran Buenos Aires. Geo UERJ (26):22–54 Marcos M, Del Río JP (2022) Los tipos de hábitat de Buenos Aires: poblamiento, estructura demográfica y condiciones residenciales. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos 37(3) Meichtry NC (2007) Emergencia y mutaciones del sistema urbano. In: Torrado S (ed) Población y bienestar en Argentina del primero al segundo Centenario. Una historia social del siglo XX. Edhasa, Buenos Aires Morina JO, Baxendale C, Buzai G (2008) La calidad de vida en el Gran Buenos Aires. In: Velázquez G (ed) Geografía y Bienestar. Situación local, regional y global de la Argentina luego del censo de 2001. EUDEBA, Buenos Aires, pp 367–383 Prevot Schapira MF (2002) Buenos Aires en los años 90: metropolización y desigualdades. EURE (Santiago) 28(85):31–50 Rey Balmaceda RC (1964) Desplazamientos cotidianos en el GBA 1960. In: Anales de la Sociedad Argentina de Estudios Geográficos, GAEA (12):41–91 Rodríguez GM, Kozak DM (2014) Expansión física y demográfica y cambios en la densidad de la Aglomeración Gran Buenos Aires, 1750–2010. Población de Buenos Aires 11(20) Rodriguez GM (2016) Desigualdades socioeconómicas y segregación residencial en dos décadas de signo político y económico opuesto. La aglomeración Gran Buenos Aires entre 1991 y 2010. Cuaderno urbano 21(21):5–28 Rofman AB (1999) Desarrollo regional y exclusión social: transformaciones y crisis en la Argentina contemporánea. Amorrortu, Buenos Aires Rofman AB (2005) Las transformaciones regionales. In: Suriano J (ed) Dictadura y Democracia (1976–2001): Nueva Historia Argentina. Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, pp 331–376 Roitman S (2003) Barrios cerrados y segregación social urbana. Scripta Nova 7(146):57–72 RPPVA (2015) Registro Público Provincial de Villas y Asentamientos Precarios. Ministerio de Infraestructura y Servicios Públicos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Available at: http://181. 171.117.68/registro/publico/ Schaefer F (1953) Exceptionalism in geography: a methodological examination. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 43:226–245 Sjoberg G (1960) The preindustrial city: past and present. The Free Press, Glencoe Svampa M (2001) Los que ganaron: la vida en los countries y barrios privados. Editorial Biblos, Buenos Aires

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Thuillier G (2005) El impacto socio-espacial de las urbanizaciones cerradas: el caso de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. EURE (Santiago) 31(93):5–20 Torrado S (2008) Población y Bienestar en la Argentina: nuestro largo, denso y vertiginoso siglo XX. Boletín de la Asociación de Estudios de Población de la Argentina (AEPA) (40) Torres HA (1978) El mapa social de Buenos Aires en 1943, 1947 y 1960. Buenos Aires y los modelos urbanos. Desarrollo Económico 18(70):163–204 Torres HA (1993) El mapa social de Buenos Aires (1940–1990). Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Torres HA (1998) Procesos recientes de fragmentación socioespacial en Buenos Aires: la suburbanización de las élites. Seminario de investigación urbana “El nuevo milenio y lo urbano” Torres HA (2001) Cambios socioterritoriales en Buenos Aires durante la década de 1990. EURE (Santiago) 27(80):33–56 UNCPBA, CONICET (2019) Mapa del Índice de Calidad de Vida (ICV), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, 1. https://icv.conicet.gov.ar/ urBAsig (s/f) Registro Provincial de Urbanizaciones Cerradas. Ministerio de Infraestructura y Servicios Públicos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Available at: https://urbasig.gob.gba.gob.ar/urb asig/ Vapñarsky CA (1995) Primacía y macrocefalia en la Argentina: la transformación del sistema de asentamiento humano desde 1950. Desarrollo económico, pp 227–254 Vapñarsky CA (2000) La aglomeración Gran Buenos Aires: expansión espacial y crecimiento demográfico entre 1869 y 1991. Eudeba, Buenos Aires Velázquez G (2001a) Calidad de vida y fragmentación en la Argentina. La herencia de los noventa. Revista del CESLA (2):162–194 Velázquez G (2016) Estudios sobre Geografía y calidad de vida en la Argentina. In: Velázquez G (Dir) Geografía y calidad de vida en Argentina. Análisis regional y departamental (2010). Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil, pp 9–12 Velázquez G (2001b) Geografía, calidad de vida y fragmentación en la Argentina de los noventa: análisis regional y departamental utilizando SIG’s. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil Velázquez G, Mikkelsen C, Linares S, Celemín JP (2010) Calidad de vida en Argentina: Ranking del bienestar por departamentos (2014). Universidad del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil Vidal-Koppmann S (2008) Mutaciones metropolitanas: de la construcción de barrios cerrados a la creación de ciudades privadas: balance de una década de urbanización privada en la región metropolitana de Buenos Aires. Scripta Nova: revista electrónica de geografía y ciencias sociales 12

Mariana Marcos PhD in Social Sciences (University of Buenos Aires). Specialist in Social Demography (National University of Luján). Professor of Quantitative Methodology in the Department of Geography of the University of Tres de Febrero. Researcher at the Gino Germani Research Institute, University of Buenos Aires, affiliated with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina. Gustavo Buzai Prof. Dr. in Geography (National University of Cuyo, UNCu, Argentina). Training stay in GIS at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, Brazil) and postdoctoral research stay in Human Geography at Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM, Spain) and University of Innsbruck (Uibk, Austria). Professor of the Department of Geography and Director of the Institute of Geographical Research (INIGEO) at National University of Luján (UNLu). Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina.

Chapter 5

Northwestern Argentina (NOA) Fernando Longhi and Pablo Paolasso

Abstract The six provinces that make up Northwestern Argentina (NOA) cover an area of 560,000 km2 . In 2010, about five million people lived there, representing 12% of the Argentine population. Nature has played a predominant role in the human occupation of this territory, either from a restrictive expression, defined by the existence of sectors with major obstacles to the development of human life; relative, associated with its changing meaning according to material practices or regressive, linked to the effects of indiscriminate exploitation. From the natural point of view, there is no criterion that unifies this group. Neither could it be said that there is a cultural homogeneity that gives a characteristic seal to this portion of the country, since there is also diversity what prevails. It can be said, however, that the northwest of Argentina is today a peripheral region and is associated in the popular imagination with conditions of poverty, low quality of life and extreme inequalities, which are expressed in different stages and processes of territorialization and reterritorialization. These processes resulted, throughout history, in the construction of differentiated territories, whose economic base was based on agroforestry, agricultural, agro-industrial or mining activities, to mention the most important ones. The preeminence of any of these activities, or their overlapping over time, defined the construction of highly unequal territories—whatever the time analyzed—where the binomial inequalitypoverty and enormous social differences were almost the norm. The interest of this chapter is focused on analyzing the impact of the territorial transformations that took place during the first decade of the twenty-first century on the quality of life in the region. To this end, it is first necessary to study the changes that occurred in population growth and quality of life between 2001 and 2010, which will make it possible to establish which were the most important dimensions that intervened, their magnitude and the way in which they were distributed in the territory. This finding makes it possible to establish some contingency relationships between the course of the quality of life throughout the decade and the evolution of the logics of territorial F. Longhi (B) · P. Paolasso National University of Tucumán, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Tucumán, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] P. Paolasso e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_5

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construction. Under these premises, it is proposed that the logics of the territorialization processes that have intersected in the region throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century should be considered as a factor in the interpretation of the main problems. They not only affect living conditions, but also have an impact on demographic characteristics, on the structure of consumption and production, on the course of economic processes and on the features of the “materialization” of capitalism in the region. To a large extent, all these circumstances are expressed in the quality of life of the population of the NOA, which has some of the worst conditions in the country. Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Argentine Northwestern Region · Subregions · Counties

5.1 Introduction The six provinces that constitute Northwestern Argentina (NOA, in Spanish) comprise an area of 560,000 km2 . In 2010, nearly five million people were living in this region, representing 12% of the Argentine population. Nature has played an essential role in relation to human occupation in the territory, either from a point of view of restrictive expression, defined by the existence of areas which have posed important obstacles to human life development; relative expression, associated with its changing character as regards material practices; and regressive expression, linked to the effects of indiscriminate exploitation. From the point of view of nature, this population set cannot be unified under a single criterion. Despite location is a critical factor, geographical features are crucially important: from the highest peaks in the Americas to the vast Chaco plains of nearly zero slope and from the arid terrain with extreme droughts in the Puna’s high plateaus to the Yungas’ cloudy forest in the foothills of Tucumán, where precipitations can exceed 2000 mm per year. A true space of contrasts. It cannot be said, however, that this part of the country is a culturally homogeneous area conveying a distinctive stamp, since diversity also prevails: when the Spaniards arrived, there was a variety of indigenous peoples, ranging from sedentary farmers in the northwestern border, vassals of the Inca Empire, to hunter-gatherers in the Chaco plains. Spanish colonization, followed by migration processes, resulted in evident diversity. Unlike other regions in Argentina, the original peoples were not decimated, and the syncretism resulting from the mixture of the so-called Western Culture with original cultures has produced great diversity and a culturally complex panorama. It can be held, however, that the Argentine Northwest is today perceived as a peripheral region associated with poverty, low quality of life and extreme inequalities in popular imagination. Using terminology coined by Harvey (2007), we could currently characterize the Argentine Northwest as a territory that has gone through different stages and processes of territorialization and reterritorialization. Throughout history, these

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processes induced the creation of differentiated territories, with economic foundations based on agroforestry, agricultural, agro-industrial or mining activities, to name the most important. The preeminence of any of these, or their overlapping over time, defined the construction of highly unequal territories—regardless of the moment analyzed—where the dichotomy inequality-poverty and enormous social differences were almost a norm. As a starting point for interpretation, we may consider the emergence of capitalism in the last third of the nineteenth century. This meant the rupture of a model for territorial construction, which was developed from the early independence stage until the 1870s, when an economy of subsistence was prominent. The arrival of “progress”, which came through liberal ideas and was realized in the railways, implied the transition of said model to an agro-industrial model that was gradually building another territory, where a particular crop—sugar cane—and its associated industry—the sugarcane mill—was to revolutionize the processes of territorialization. For instance, crop fields—the crop (sugar cane)—and the location of factories would be connected to the proliferation of cities, the growth of existing urban centers and the adoption of progress derived from the Industrial Revolution, which would transform the regional physiognomy during its evolution, throughout the first half of the twentieth century. To convey a vivid picture of these transformations, we can draw on the views by Bialet Massé, who was amazed at the “sea of sugar cane” and the thriving industrial activity depicted by the smoking chimneys of mills (Bialet Massé 1985), upon his arrival in Tucumán from the south. Of course, Bialet did not—could not—imagine the magnitude that this “sea of sugar cane” would reach, neither the joys nor the bitterness this development would bring to regional society. This model, with fluctuations back and forth, almost dominated the scene until the 1960s, when a combination of low prices, overproduction and political decisions triggered a profound crisis in the central element of regional territorialization. At this point, another transition began: new crops emerged and authorities promoted the establishment of industries for import substitution, which, however, did not cancel the logic of territorialization that was inherent to sugar mills and sugarcane fields; rather, the new paradigm became embedded into it, often taking advantage of pre-existing structures, re-functionalizing them. These elements were present in the early 1990s, when the neoliberal model was implemented. On the one hand, deregulation and the muscle devoted to the private enterprise modified the characteristics of the sugarcane complex, giving rise to new activities that were oriented toward—and by—global markets. This entailed not only a new superimposition of territorialization logics, but also the emergence of new logics on other spaces, which were gradually modified by these phenomena. New agricultural activities—such as soybean production—or the re-functionalization of existing activities—viticulture, olive growing or livestock production, together with pre-existing activities that would increase their scale exponentially, such as mining and tourism—generated gradual changes in the territory.

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The post-neoliberal or neo-developmentalism period that came with the early twenty-first century was unable to realize a set of policies that undoubtedly tended toward redistribution. In general, there were no significant changes in territorial modes and structures; however, the processes that had started during the 1990s, when globalization was playing a central role, continued to be decisive in many respects (Paolasso et al. 2013). Consequently, territories characterized by the dichotomy inequality-poverty emerged. But it should be emphasized that this was not new; rather, these phenomena were already manifest in the stages of regional territorialization. Perhaps this feature is common to the entire NOA, being strongly rooted in the collective worldview. Through these successive transitions, this chapter intends to focus on analyzing how the territorial transformations occurred during the first decade of the twentyfirst century affected the quality of life in the region. To that effect, it is necessary to study the changes on population growth and quality of life from 2001 to 2010, in order to facilitate the identification of the most important dimensions involved, their magnitude and their distribution throughout the territory. This finding will enable us to establish specific contingency relationships between the progression of quality of life throughout the decade and the evolution of logics in territorial construction. Under these premises, we propose that the logics of territorialization processes that occurred in the region throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century are considered a factor to interpret the main problems. Not only do they affect living conditions, but they also have an effect on demographics, the structures of consumption and production, the progression of economic processes and the characteristics of capitalism realization in the region. To a large extent, all these circumstances are reflected in the NOA population’s quality of life, a region featuring some of the worst conditions in the country.

5.2 The Population Despite the NOA’s extension and diverse natural conditions, only 4,911,412 people live in the area, according to the 2010 National Population, Households and Housing Census. Out of this group, more than 81% reside in urban areas, with higher concentration of inhabitants in the provincial capitals, where 48% of the population resides. In 2010, relative participation of the NOA population in the national total was similar to that of 1914, but much lower than the times when the “Creole homeland” began its transformation—the last third of the nineteenth century—by a fuller inclusion into capitalism and modernism (Tables 5.1 and 5.2). In fact, from 1869 to 1970, there was a relative decline in the NOA population, with respect to the national total. The change of trend in the 1970 census was due not mainly to the prominent role of the past, but to more complex problems linked to metropolitanization processes in Greater Buenos Aires, the increased dynamism in

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Table 5.1 Total NOA population in 2010 per province, urban and rural place of residence, each capital’s population and population proportion per each capital, according to the provincial total Total

Urban

Rural

% urban

Tucumán

1,448,188

1,166,457

281,731

80.5

794,327

55.1

Salta

1,214,441

1,056,622

157,819

87.0

539,187

43.5

Santiago del Estero

874,006

600,429

273,577

68.7

358,633

40.6

Jujuy

673,307

585,560

87,747

87.0

310,106

45.5

Catamarca

367,828

283,706

84,122

77.1

197,413

51.4

La Rioja

333,642

288,518

45,124

86.5

178,872

49.7

4,911,412

3,981,292

930,120

81.1

2,378,538

48.4

Northwest

Capital (conurbation)

% capital

Source National Population, Households and Housing Census (INDEC 2010)

Table 5.2 Participation of the Argentine Northwest population in the national total, from 1869 to 2001 1869

1895

1914

1947

1960

1970

1980

1991

2001

2010

28.8

17.8

12.6

11.2

11.0

10.2

10.8

11.3

12.3

12.2

Source National Population Censuses

certain provincial capital cities (Vapñarsky 1995; Bolsi 1997), among other factors, and particularly due to the deep crisis that the NOA regional economies had gone through since the 1960s (Bolsi 2004).

5.3 Changes in Regional Quality of Life in 2001–2010 Although the quality of life index (QLI, in Spanish) changed its building methodology from 2001 to 2010, giving greater weight to the component referring to environmental quality, it has been noted that the NOA experienced an improvement of 4% in quality of life, compared to 2001. This upgrade continues the trend observed from 1991 (Bolsi et al. 2008). But besides this progress, the region features have historically featured—together with the Northeastern region, the worst quality of life standards in the entire country. In this context of improvement but lag at the same time, it is interesting to identify three aspects: identifying the characteristics that are inherent to the change itself, analyzing the explanatory variables of this change and looking into the regional and extra-regional features and processes that would define the scenario of this dual condition in the NOA.

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Fig. 5.1 Changes in the quality of life among the population of departments that comprise the Argentine Northwest 2001–2010. Source Velázquez (2016)

In this case, the first question is related to the identification of differences in the region in order to categorize departments based on the magnitude of change. The second question is related to the definition of explanatory variables in the process. The third question emphasizes the analysis of variables’ incidence that defines the QLI in the changes identified, according to areas of improvement or decline in quality of life, based on regional and extra-regional processes. The starting point for the first question can be seen in Fig. 5.1. According to the sign and dimension of changes occurred between both dates, each department can be categorized in two large groups: on the diagonal’s left side, those that have improved their quality of life; on the right, those whose quality of life has been deteriorated. Needless to say, those not affected by variations are on the same diagonal. Thus, by associating this sign to the population proportion surveyed in 2010, we find that 53.3% of the NOA population saw improvements in their quality of life (in different extents), while 46.7% showed deterioration. In turn, it is evident that change dimensions vary, and five different types can be recognized by identifying the diagonal and considering two equal intervals in the QLI (from 0 to 5 and from 5 to 10) for 2001 and 2010 (Fig. 5.2). According to this classification, two large groups could be identified: those that improved their quality of life and those that experienced deterioration, both to different extents. Thus, three main categories of progress and two of decline can be identified: Type A: the departments that have improved their levels according to high quality of life rates: the 2001 and 2010 values have remained above 5, showing growth

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Fig. 5.2 Difference in changes in quality of life between 1991 and 2001 in the departments that comprise the Argentine Northwest. Source Velázquez (2016)

between both periods. Together with Type E, this is the most numerous group bringing together 44.9% of the regional population and showing highly positive changes for the populations involved. Type B: they are part of counties that feature higher levels of quality of life, based on intermediate records. They comprise 3% of the total population. Type C: jurisdictions that have slightly improved their quality of life, but to a very low extent on both periods. They comprise 5.4% of the population. Notably, it features jurisdictions that worsened their quality of life in 2010. The fourth group is represented by a few departments that experienced moderate setbacks, placing them below the threshold set by QLI’s value 5 in 2010 (Type D). This group includes just 1.1% of the population. The highest frequencies are found among jurisdictions that have experienced setbacks despite high quality of life rates, although they are above the threshold defined by QLI’s value 5 (Type E). Departments with this characteristic comprise 45.6% of the regional population. The most significant improvements (Types A and B) occurred in clearly defined areas, in which the evolution of certain socio-economic processes had a highly favorable impact throughout the decade. Among these groups, there is a set of counties linked to tourism development, such as Salta and Jujuy’s counties in the Puna region; those located in Quebrada de Humahuaca and Valles Calchaquíes, but also those departments that experienced an early expansion of the agricultural frontier to give way to beans and soybeans crops in the Chaco area. In addition, some areas have

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Map 5.1 Departmental typology based on the dynamics of the quality of life index 2001–2010. Argentine Northwest. Source Map prepared by the authors, based on the National Census 2001 and 2010

experienced a positive but less significant change in the quality of life (Type C), including a large part of the recent expanding agricultural frontier sector, mainly in the province of Santiago del Estero. It is clear then that categories A and E have the major demographic role in the region. The spatial distribution of departments arranged in these groups can be seen in Map 5.1. On the other hand, compared to 2001, there was a slight setback in quality of life (Type E) in almost all the departments of La Rioja and southern Catamarca, together with some provincial capitals, their surrounding areas and mid-sized cities (in this group, we find La Rioja, Santiago del Estero, San Miguel de Tucumán, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, San Salvador de Jujuy, Concepción, Tafí Viejo and Chilecito, among others). The departments that experienced the most significant setbacks in quality of life and fell below the threshold set by QLI’s value 5 in 2010 are not very significant in terms of space and demographics. They are located to the east in the region: Rivadavia, in Salta; and Taboada and Alberdi, in Santiago del Estero, where the agricultural frontier is expanding.

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5.4 Variables Explaining Changes in the NOA Quality of Life To identify the degree of participation of variables that intervene in the QLI when changes are produced in each department type above mentioned, each variable’s participation was measured, based on the changes observed in a decade. For example, in the Tafí Viejo department, Tucumán Province, the values calculated for the QLI are: QLI 2001 = 6.78 and QLI 2010 = 6.52 The difference is: QLI = −0.26. Likewise, we can calculate the differences for each variable that integrates the QLI and calculate the percentage participation of each one of them, with respect to the QLI differential value. Tafí Viejo dept (county; instead PRIdif UNIdif IMRdif HIdif TOIdif OVCdif ENVdif dept, as the title of Fig. 5.3) −0.08 −0.05 −0.12 −0.04 0.16 0.03 −0.16

Namely, % dif in PRI = dif in PRI/dif QLI × 100 Tafí Viejo % PRIdif % UNIdif % IMRdif % HIdif % TOIdif % OVCdif % ENVdif dept (idem 31.8 20.0 45.8 14.7 −61.8 −10.8 −0.16 prev.)

By processing data, we obtain Fig. 5.3. It is evident that the dominant variable affecting regressive change in the QLI is the percentage of households that lack toilets or flushing water, followed by the percentage of households with overcrowding conditions. In this case, according to the index, the decline in quality of life in the Tafí Viejo department was due to the dominant incidence of the growing number of households that lacked toilets, followed by households with overcrowding conditions, where the improvement of other variables did not have an effect to mitigate decline in general. After conducting this procedure on every NOA county, they were grouped according to: the dominant incidence variable, where QLI improvements were the distinctive feature; the dominant regression variable, in counties where quality of life had worsened. Maps 5.2 and 5.3 show the spatial distribution of both departmental groups, highlighting the dominant and regression variables in each case. According to these maps it is possible to observe two sectors differentiated by a diagonal running northwest–southeast, from the north of the province of Catamarca

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Fig. 5.3 Tafí Viejo County (Tucumán). Percentage variation of variables that comprise the QLI, 2001–2010. Source Prepared by the authors, based on Manzano & Velázquez (2018)

Map 5.2 Dominant variables in counties that showed improvements in their quality of life index, 2001–2010. Argentine Northwest. Source Map prepared by the authors, based on the National Census 2001 and 2010

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Map 5.3 Regression variables in counties that showed a decline in quality of life indexes, 2001– 2010. Argentine Northwest. Source Map prepared by the authors, based on the National Census 2001 and 2010

to the south of the province of Santiago del Estero. Jurisdictions where improvements in the quality of life have taken place are mainly located in the diagonal’s northern sector. These changes were driven by better environmental conditions in several of the counties located in the Chaco region, the Puna and Valles Calchaquíes, while improvements in the rest of the counties occurred mainly due to an increase in the proportion of households with toilets (corresponding to the QLI housing dimension). On the other hand, toward the diagonal’s southern sector are the counties that experienced quality of life setbacks. In these counties, toilet conditions were the main conditioning variable. Clearly, in situations of either improvement or deterioration, the toilet variable has been the main influence on the quality of life of the NOA population.

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5.5 Territorial Transformations in the NOA During the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century 5.5.1 Reprimarization and Neoextractivism Sugar production set the pace of the regional economy until the 1990s, when the emergence of the neoliberal model paved the way for new activities that would have an exponential growth in the NOA. Three sectors became particularly dynamic: agriculture (especially soybean production and certain niches, such as the wine industry); tourism; and mining. These activities, unlike sugar cane production, are particularly oriented toward international markets and are associated with a phenomenon that some authors, such as Svampa (2013), have called neoextractivism. Soybean production, whose first forays in the region date back to the 1970s, gained momentum during the 1990s, with the appearance of a new technological package based on the use of genetically modified seeds, pesticides and new tillage methods. As of 1996, crop areas skyrocketed significantly, since authorities allowed the use of a genetically modified seed (known as Roundup Ready soybean or simply RR soybean), a genetically engineered soybean with an altered DNA capable to withstand glyphosate, a pesticide that eliminates any type of weed competing with soybean plants and a new tillage method known as “no-till farming” that requires minimal soil disturbance, by which seeds are directly deposited into untilled ground. Artificial components of nutrients required by the plant for optimal growth are also added (Paolasso et al. 2012a). This model emerged as a complement to the Pampas soybean complex, and although it came to replace other crops (such as black beans in Metán and Rosario de la Frontera) in some areas, it basically made its way from the deforestation of vast parts of the Chaco forest (approximately 2 million hectares from 1990 to 2011), with pioneer front characteristics (Paolasso and Krapovickas 2013). As regards capital requirements, the soybean model demands no less than 450/500 ha of land to be economically viable. This gave rise to different social disputes on land, as a large part of producers are extra-regional. Besides, production is not processed in the region, and there are ecological disputes over deforestation due to the fact that forests are a habitat for species of high ecological value which, in turn, support the livelihood of several native hunting-gatherer communities. The “pampeanization” of the NOA Chaco area, as this process has been called, implies external control of regional development through large national and international agribusinesses, which control the different links in the soy production chain. Although the expansion of soybean crops—as regards area and value—is the most important factor in the recent agrarian structural change in the NOA area, significant modifications have also taken place in other locations, such as qualitative transformations in viticulture and the effects related to the tourism sector, which are oriented toward global developments, or export-oriented olive plantations equipped with irrigation, especially in the provinces of Catamarca and La Rioja.

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There is also a trend toward intensive animal farming, with the implementation of the so-called feed lots (industrial breeding of enclosed livestock), increasing the possibilities to “refine” soy production (concentrated production) in the regional added-value chain.

5.5.2 The Revitalization of Mining Another production sector that was deeply affected by the neoliberal policies of the 1990s, which have intensified in the post-neoliberal period since 2003, was mining. One of the first ventures that was implemented due to the deregulation of the economy was Bajo La Alumbrera, which began operations in 1994 after several attempts. The site owners—the National University of Tucumán, the government of the province of Catamarca and the Federal government—transferred exploitation rights to a corporation that included Xtstrata Plc (Switzerland), Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold (both Canadian). With copper and gold exports of US$ 1590 million in 2010, this project represented nearly half of the exports of primary goods from all of Northwestern Argentina (Minera Alumbrera 2011). Large transnational mining companies have found strong partners among government elites (at the national, provincial and local levels). However, the population affected by large-scale mining projects has hardly benefited from the social redistribution of profits, while environmental burdens have greatly increased. In this context, it is not surprising that, in recent years, many organizations have been created in order to reject large-scale mining projects (Svampa 2013). In addition to precious metals (gold, silver, copper), there has also been a growing interest in the large lithium deposits located in the Puna. The strong demand for mineral resources and their high prices in the international market have led to renewed interest in this mineral. However, the socio-ecological consequences of the new practices and the territorial fragmentation caused by new mining enclaves suggest that social resistance to mining projects in the region will also increase.

5.5.3 The Internationalization of Tourism The internationalization of tourism in the NOA zone began in the 1990s, as a result of national and provincial policies (Bertoncello 2006). However, the growth of tourism in the region dates back to the post-neoliberal period and was linked to the devaluation of the national currency in 2001, offering lower, convenient prices for international tourists. Tourism, like the agricultural sector, has contributed to increasing foreign exchange earnings. In addition, it has shown great potential for promoting local and sustainable development in peripheral regions; in particular, for improving the

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living conditions of the poorest sectors among the population, job creation and social inclusion. Since the early twenty-first century, different provincial political initiatives have been developed to strengthen tourism in rural areas. In this context, two subregions have particularly developed, where tourism has made progress in close connection to global networks and added-value chains: Quebrada de Humahuaca, in the province of Jujuy, and the Wine Route, in Salta province. Quebrada de Humahuaca was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003, giving new prominence to international tourism. The same happened with the tourism boom in the region of the “Valles (Valleys) Calchaquíes”, creating a close connection between high-quality viticulture and tourism. With vineyards located at an altitude between 1600 and 3100 m above sea level, the “Valles Calchaquíes” are among the highest altitude wine-producing regions in the world, whose production structure has undergone profound changes in recent years. In addition to Torrontés—a typical grape variety of that subregion— other varieties were developed (especially Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah). From 2001 to 2011, annual income from wine exports increased more than sevenfold. However, according to the National Institute of Viticulture, the area only increased 20% (totaling 2269 ha) during the same period. At the same time, the Wine Route and a wine museum were created in the town of Cafayate, where elements such as weather, terroir and the Andean culture were combined to conform a specific destination landscape. A much higher than average increase in the number of visitors, compared to other Argentine wine regions, are proof of the boom that the Wine Route experienced, with more than 154,000 wine tourists visiting in 2010. It can be thus appreciated the close connection between viticulture and wine tourism (Paolasso and Krapovickas 2013).

5.5.4 Concentration of Population in Provincial Capitals The provincial capitals play a central role in the territory and territorialization logics in the region, not only because of the concentration—in many cases, extreme—of the population in these conurbations (Table 5.3), but mainly of the goods and services that are indispensable to their subsistence. Since the 1970s, these cities have been some of the privileged destinations for important rural population groups that left their hinterland. The critical cycles in regional economies, which failed to provide adequate support to the population, were temporarily combined with the moment of greatest demographic growth in rural areas, which were in full transition. This combination produced not only the explosive growth of these cities, but also a process of demographic concentration that increased over time. But although these cities concentrate a large part of goods supply, in addition to commercial, educational, health insurance, etc., their rapid growth has prevented this supply from adequately covering the needs of its inhabitants, thus causing a remarkable process of polarization that was clearly manifested in the territory.

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Table 5.3 Average annual intercensal population growth rate (TCMAI, in Spanish, 2001–2010) and quality of life index (QLI 2010) of provincial capital cities in the NOA zone Conurbation Greater San Miguel de Tucumán

TCMAI (2001/2010)

QLI (2010)

8.1

6.66

Greater Salta

15.7

7.04

Santiago del Estero–La Banda

10.0

6.39

Greater San Salvador de Jujuy–Palpalá

12.1

6.83

Greater San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca

12.0

7.12

La Rioja

24.6

7.18

Source INDEC, National Population, Households and Housing Census 2001 and 2010; Velázquez et al. (2014)

During the 2000s, the demographic growth in conurbations, including regional capital cities, has significantly declined—except for La Rioja—reaching rates that are below provincial averages (Table 5.3). This occurrence cannot be isolated from the transformations that have taken place in the regional economic and territorial processes, many of which are not controlled from these cities—as already mentioned—which have caused migration to reverse in many of the rural areas (Troncoso 2012; Rainer and Malizia 2015; Paolasso and Krapovickas 2013). However, one of the factors that has had a drastic impact in this process has been the rapid decline in soil fertility during the last two decades (Paolasso and Longhi 2019). Migration from the countryside to the cities has been replaced by intra-urban mobility processes, which have extensively modified the structure and dynamics of cities, generating what Janoschka (2002) has called “islands of poverty” and “islands of wealth”. There has been a particular proliferation of gated communities in the outskirts of the NOA capital cities, in addition to a variety of informal settlements, such as the so-called villas miseria, favelas or shunty towns, which are perhaps the most evident. Along with these transformations, new centralities have appeared in these conurbations, which have substantially modified the dynamics of their functioning (Paolasso et al. 2019; Boldrini and Malizia 2017; Malizia et al. 2018). In this context of changes and transformations, capitals’ conurbations in the NOA are among the areas with the best quality of life, with medium–high (Greater San Miguel de Tucumán, the Santiago del Estero–La Banda cities) to high levels (Greater Salta, Greater San Salvador de Jujuy and Palpalá, Greater San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca and La Rioja provinces) (Table 5.3). However, it has been verified that inner cities feature drastic inequalities in terms of quality of life. Previous studies have shown that 53.3% of the regional population improved their quality of life from 2001 to 2010. These positive changes have occurred mainly in areas affected by new and intensive processes of territorialization, which entailed global logics in all cases: grain production, high-quality wines, open-pit mining and tourism, strongly oriented toward international markets. Many of these activities

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were already present in the territory: viticulture, tourism or mining are not new activities in the Argentine Northwestern zone; however, there are others such as soybean production. Basically, what changed was the logic of spatial transformation of these practices. And that was a new feature. From 2000 to 2010, soybean crops expansion provoked the clearing of nearly 1 million hectares of the Chaco forest, as well as the relocation of a large part of original and creole peoples who lived in the area, in addition to the unequal growth in small towns, which became hubs for the provision of goods and services. Large-scale open-pit mining transformed the regional Gross Geographic Product: in 2005, compared to all forestry-agricultural activities combined, income grew to the extent that economic geography indicators might identify mining as the main economic activity in the region. Wine production found a formidable niche in the town of Cafayate and other counties in the “Valles Calchaquíes”. Large international companies, such as Pernod Ricard, have settled in the area to produce wines that are worldwide recognized for their quality. In turn, this phenomenon has promoted a very particular type of tourism, causing notable territorial transformations. Consequently, societies that were among the most traditional in Argentina, with deeply rooted material and cultural practices, went through a process of partial and singular modernization. That process was not, however, devoid of conflict. Quite the contrary, it was marked by protests and counter-protests, but in general terms this modernization operated by improving the quality of life of the population, fundamentally generating better infrastructures, better housing conditions and better environmental conditions. In the process, many of these material and cultural practices were lost or altered. But, as we have mentioned, the quality of life of the remaining population half in the region—46.7%—has worsened throughout those years. This was especially the case in traditional areas that lacked developed economies and connections to international markets—maps speak for themselves: a large part of Catamarca and La Rioja provinces, and part of the province of Santiago del Estero; a demographic void inhabited by traditional societies that were left aside from regional economic processes, with very few exceptions. But this was also the case of several provincial capitals, hence such considerable volume of population. The processes that occurred in these cities affected the deterioration of habitat conditions for large sectors of the population; however, at the same time, there was a decline in environmental conditions, in addition to violence surges. The result was territorial fragmentation on a scale that was never seen before, which had an undoubtedly negative impact on quality of life. These mixed results, with pros and cons, would not be desirable for a region that has historically been considered one of the most unequal, poorest and areas in the country, with the worst quality of life.

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References Bertoncello R (2006) Turismo, territorio y sociedad. El ‘mapa turístico de la Argentina’. In: Geraiges de Lemos A, Arroyo M, Silveira ML (eds) América Latina: cidade, campo e turismo. CLACSO, Sao Paulo, Brazil, pp 307–335 Bialet-Massé J (1985{1904}) Informe sobre el estado de la clase obrera. Hyspamérica, Buenos Aires Boldrini P, Malizia M (2017) Urbanizaciones informales en ciudades intermedias. Los casos del Gran San Salvador de Jujuy y Gran San Miguel de Tucumán (Noroeste argentino). Cuaderno Urbano. Espacio, cultura, sociedad 23(23):85–106 Bolsi A (1997) La población del Noroeste Argentino según su lugar de residencia (1914–1991). In: Bolsi A, Pucci R (Coordinators) Problemas poblacionales del Noroeste Argentino. UNT-Junta de Andalucía, San Miguel de Tucumán, pp 125–141 Bolsi A (2001/02) Población y territorio del noroeste argentino durante el siglo XX. Travesía 7/ 8:9–52 Bolsi A (2007) El mito de la opulencia argentina: territorio y pobreza en el Norte Grande Argentino. Actas Latinoamericanas de Varsovia 30:189–206 Bolsi A (2004) Pobreza y territorio en el Norte Grande Argentino. ponencia presentada en 1er Congreso de la Asociación Latino-Americana de Población. Caxambú, 20 al 22 de septiembre de 2004. Disponible en: http://www.alapop.org/2009/images/PDF/ALAP2004_380.pdf Bolsi A, Madariaga H, Paolasso P (2008) La calidad de vida de la población del noroeste argentino. In: Velázquez G (ed) Geografía y bienestar. Situación local, regional y global de la Argentina luego del censo 2001. EUDEBA, Buenos Aires, pp 263–298 Harvey D (2007) Espacios del capital. Hacia una geografía crítica. Ediciones Akal, Madrid Janoschka M (2002) El nuevo modelo de la ciudad latinoamericana: fragmentación y privatización. EURE (Santiago) 28(85):11–20. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0250-71612002008500002 Malizia M, Boldrini P, Paolasso P (Comp) (2018) Hacia otra ciudad posible. Transformaciones urbanas en el aglomerado Gran San Miguel de Tucumán. Café de las Ciudades, Buenos Aires Manzano F, Velázquez G (2018) Población y economía. Recorrido histórico del estado del arte. IGEHCS, Tandil Minera Alumbrera (2011) Informe de Sostenibilidad 2011. www.alumbrera.com.ar/download/art iculos/Informe-Sostenibilidad-2010.pdf. Accessed: 10.06.2019 Paolasso P, Krapovickas J (2013) Avance de la frontera agropecuaria y transformaciones demográficas en el Chaco Seco Argentino durante la primera década del siglo XXI. En: Formiga N, Garriz E (eds) Actas XII Jornadas Argentinas de Estudios de Población. Editorial de la Universidad Nacional del Sur: Bahía Blanca, pp 1366–1369 Paolasso P, Krapovickas J, Gasparri I (2012a) Deforestación, expansión agropecuaria y dinámica demográfica en el Chaco Seco Argentino durante la década de los noventa. Lat Am Res Rev 47(1):35–63 Paolasso P, Krapovickas J, Longhi F (2012b) Agriculture and cattle frontier advance and variation of poorness in the North of the Gran Chaco Argentino during the 90’s. Kieler Geographische Schriften 123:51–76 Paolasso P, Longhi F (2019) Indices vitales y fragmentación territorial. El NGA en el contexto nacional. En: Paolasso P, Longhi F, Velázquez G (Coord) Desigualdades y fragmentación territorial en la Argentina durante la primera década del siglo XXI. Imago Mundi, Buenos Aires, pp 39–58 Paolasso P, Longhi F, Velázquez G (Coord) (2019) Desigualdades y fragmentación territorial en la Argentina durante la primera década del siglo XXI. Imago Mundi, Buenos Aires Paolasso P, Rainer R, Ruíz Peyré F, Coy M (2013) Entwicklungstendenzen im ländlichen Raum Nordwest-Argentiniens. Geographische Rundschau 12:14–21 Rainer G, Malizia M (2015) En busca de lo rural: migración de amenidad en los Valles Calchaquíes, Argentina. J Latin Am Geogr 14(1):57–78

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Svampa M (2013) ‘Consenso de los commodities’ y lenguajes de valoración en América Latina. Revista Nueva Sociedad 244:30–46 Troncoso C (2012) Turismo y patrimonio en la Quebrada de Humahuaca. Lugar, actores y conflictos en la definición de un destino turístico argentino. Pasos, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires Vapñarsky CA (1995) Primacía y macrocefalia en la Argentina: la transformación del sistema de asentamiento humano desde 1950. Desarrollo Económico 35(138):227–254 Velázquez G (2016) Geografía y calidad de vida en Argentina. Análisis regional y departamental (2010). IGEHCS/CIG, Tandil, p 350. ISBN 978-950-658-386-6 Velázquez G, Mikkelsen C, Linares S, Celemín JP (2014) Calidad de vida en Argentina: ranking del bienestar por departamentos. Universidad del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil

Fernando Longhi Professor and Graduate in Geography (National University of Tucumán, Argentina), and Doctor in Social Sciences (geography orientation) from the same university. Adjunct professor by contest of the Demography chair in the Department of Social Sciences of the National University of Santiago del Estero. Independent Researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) at the Higher Institute of Social Studies of Tucumán and researcher associated with the Center for Studies on Child Nutrition in Buenos Aires. His main lines of research are studies related to poverty, infant mortality, infant malnutrition and socio-territorial fragmentation in the Argentine context in general and in the Norte Grande in particular. Pablo Paolasso BA and PhD in Geography (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán). Professor in the Department of Geography of the UNT (Methodology of Geography chair). Professor of the Social Sciences PhD Program (History and Geography orientation) of the UNT. Independent Researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Territoriales y Tecnológicas para la Producción del Hábitat (INTEPH) (UNT-CONICET)

Chapter 6

The Argentine Northeast Region (NEA) María Alejandra Fantín and Mirta Liliana Ramírez

Abstract The Argentine Northeast (NEA) is a peripheral or border region of the Argentine Republic. This condition and its prolonged isolation from the centrality of the country, which in some aspects still persists, have its correlate in the social, economic and, as it will be seen in this chapter, in the particularities of the quality of life. The name of Northeastern Argentina (NEA) is arised from what was established by CONADE (the National Development Council) in 1967, and as it was appreciated at that time and as it is still recognized, it can hardly be considered as a region in itself. Of the four provinces that make it up, only Chaco and Formosa provinces present certain similarities in their population process and in their demographic, social, and economic characteristics. Corrientes and Misiones provinces not only differ from those but also are, among them, very dissimilar jurisdictions. This chapter will concern about the particularities of the geographical spaces that are part of the provinces that make up the Argentine Northeast (NEA) and the successive stages of settlement and prevailing productive systems until reaching the current configuration on which the synthetic indicator of quality of life is built, and its constituent variables for 2001 and 2010. In this sense, the analysis of these two moments indicates that a path of slow improvement can be glimpsed in recent years. Keywords Quality of life · Argentina · Argentine Northeastern Region · Subregions · Counties

M. A. Fantín (B) · M. L. Ramírez National University of Nordeste, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Chaco, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] M. L. Ramírez e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. A. Mikkelsen et al. (eds.), Quality of Life in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48212-0_6

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6.1 Introduction This contribution gives continuity to studies on the evolution of quality of life carried out since the early 1990s (Velázquez 2001, 2008; Velázquez and Celemín 2013, among others). Putting back on stage the spatial and temporal analysis of the synthetic evaluation index of quality of life, which in turn involves the particular observation of a set of simple variables, both at the regional level and at the urban level, has the purpose of deepening the debate about the multiscale and multitemporal differentiations that this indicator allows to visualize. Synthetic indicators allow evaluating the impact of public policies carried out by the states, which should generate favourable changes or positive externalities for the population based on regional potential. Interest in the study of quality of life increased considerably during the last decades of the Twentieth century; it is a working field that is not new; and it has even influenced the context of international health. It is an area of great importance and growth, especially since most of the research and applications have been carried out in the fields of health and work. However, in recent years, there are other categories that allow their study, such as income, education, and security. It is not a subject that only interests just psychology, but also economics, philosophy, and sociology (Ruiz Sánchez and Cruz Rodríguez 2017). Within the framework of this debate, the concept of quality of life has positioned itself at the centre. Ardila affirms that quality of life is: “a state of general satisfaction, derived from the achievement of the person’s potentialities”. It has subjective and objective aspects. It is a subjective sensation of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Subjective aspects include intimacy, emotional expression, perceived safety, personal productivity, and objective health. As objective aspects, material well-being, harmonious relationships with the physical and social environment and with the community, and objectively perceived health (Ardila 2003). Precisely, the need to study the objective aspects of quality of life led to the development of the “quality of life index” proposed in this text, as continuity of a working line initiated towards the end of the last century. The Argentine Northeastern zone (NEA), considered as a geographical region based on what was established by CONADE (National Development Council) in 1967, can hardly be considered as a region. “Only a fairly lax functionality criterion allows it to be considered as such” (Velázquez and Celemín 2013, p. 126). However, this regional focus of the works allows, from the global panorama of the national context, to examine in greater detail the realities in smaller and differentiated spaces and societies, and in turn, extra-regional perspectives offer the possibility of comparing with other jurisdictions of the Argentine territory. The new evaluation of the levels of quality of life and well-being based on the last national census measurement in 2010 and other sources surveyed has begun to show a reversal in the constant regression detected for the northeastern region. This constitutes an encouraging expectation, even though the region continues, according to the new indicators, presenting the worst quality of life conditions at the national context.

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In this work, we are particularly interested in varying the scales of the thresholds used at the national level, in order to locate greater details in the behaviour within the regional space that concerns us. We interpret that in a work of this nature and given the approach in this chapter of the weight given to the natural conditions in the region, it is important, so we take the following section of the corresponding chapter in the analysis book focused on 2001 (Meichtry and Fantin 2008), which in turn referred to the presentation proposed in Velázquez (2001).

6.1.1 The Missionary Plateau This environment, in the province of Misiones, is the prolongation of the Brazilian plateaus and is recognized as far as the northeast of Corrientes province. Its basement corresponds to the ancient Precambrian formations of the Brasilia massif, which have a higher relative height with respect to the sunken blocks, beyond the fault of the Aguapey River that limits it to the west and that marks the abrupt passage towards the sunken substratum of the Iberá wetlands basin. Its particularity is associated with the red sandstones accumulated from its own weatherings and erosion processes as well as the volcanic Mesozoic eruptions originating in the Serra Geral of Brazil. These basalt and melaphire flows metamorphized the red sandstones. Its subsequent chemical alteration under the conditions of high temperature and humidity of the local climate led to the concentration of iron and aluminium oxides that provided the base for the lateritic soils. The territory loses height from the northeast westwards, where it registers something more than 800 m above sea level, to about 150 m in the province of Corrientes. It reaches the order of 80 m in the valleys of the two main river collectors. Towards them, an abundant hydrographic network descends, whose receding erosion has generated the existence of a central mountain range that allows the differentiation of two other very important geographical spaces: the valleys of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. The outcrops of the São Bento series with their basalt, diabase, sandstone, and quartzite formations (Popolizio 1963), revealed by fluvial erosion, generate slope breaks that determine the hydraulic potential, with jumps and waterfalls, and part of the tourist wealth of this subregion. These facts have their correlate in the conditions of quality of life in certain sectors, possibly pointing out as the most important, the Ituzaingó county in the northeast of Corrientes province, with the Yacyretá dam on the Paraná river in Argentina, and the social and economic change generated by it, and the Iguazú county, in the province of Misiones, with the spectacular waterfalls of the same name and the economic dynamics linked to tourism and trade in the triple border with Paraguay and Brazil. In turn, the east–west gradation of rainfall, due to the influence of tropical maritime air masses from the South Atlantic Ocean, on their way to the continental interior, generates sharp contrasts in the water balance, from the excesses in the Misiones province portion of the whole territory, with rainfall amounts that exceed 1500 mm,

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to the marked aridity conditions of the western Chaco plain, on the order of 600 mm per year. Thus, the Misiones plateau, with its red soils of a certain fertility and its favourable hydrological and hygrometric conditions, sustains a dense hygrophilous forest, which was the basis for its economic development. Its floristic richness, with the presence of listed timber species, is generated from very early on the penetration into the territory for forestry and natural “yerba-mate” exploitation. This is a native shrub whose chopped leaves are used to prepare a strong, aboriginal tea, widely extended and consumed in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southernmost Brazil. This formation degrades towards the south, losing part of its forestry wealth, largely due to the wrong agricultural practices of the earlier colonies, which, by removing the vegetal cover in lands with steep slopes and high rainfall amounts, led to the washing out of soils and the partial loss of their original wealth. It is the quintessential “yerba mate” nucleus which has recently also incorporated livestock. In the northeast of Corrientes province, the environment of the Misiones plateau is prolonged, with the imprint of its red soils, giving rise to the fields of the so-called “Sub-Misiones” platform (Bruniard 1966), with the agricultural practices of tea and rice, forestry and livestock.

6.2 Corrientes and Their Environmental Variety The province of Corrientes shows environmental differentiation closely linked to its geological-geomorphological history and a mosaic of geographical units that have behaved differently in terms of their socioeconomic development. It is a clear example of a territory where environmental conditions have exerted a powerful influence on the organization of space. Corrientes is built on land from the Precambrian era, sunken or raised at different heights, on which the Mesozoic basaltic flow advanced and the São Bento series was generated, covered by modern sediments. It is an echelon (Popolizio 1963) between the highest blocks of the plinth in the Misiones environment and its collapse at different levels in the Chaco graben, after the tectonic fault that is the host of the Paraná River. It presents a northern half with tray topography. The eastern edge, which reaches 170 m a.s.l., prolongs the Misiones environment both in physiography and in its economic behaviour, as previously mentioned. The central depression, with heights of the order of 60 m, is occupied by the extensive Iberá marsh system, from where it ascends towards the banks of the Paraná river, in a territory characterized by a succession of fluvial valleys and sand hills. In contrast, the southern sector of the province of Corrientes, with a convex topography, descends from the central plateau of Paiubre or Mercedes towards the valleys of the great rivers. It is strongly dissected by the Miriñay and Paraná tributaries that generate the line of maximum heights that behaves as a watershed. The formation of

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São Bento, with its consolidated sandstones, has allowed a modest mining practice in Paiubre and reaches 120–130 m a.s.l. in some rocky outcrops. In the province of Corrientes, Bruniard (1966) distinguishes six landscape units, where the sectors with elevated topography and organized drainage, such as the SubMisiones platform corresponding to the previous subregion and the Paiubre, the best conditions for the human settlement are presented. On the contrary, the remaining units—the territories between the Aguapey and the Miriñay rivers, the lowlands of the Corrientes River, the northwest triangle of the Corrientes province, or the Iberian basin—are characterized by enormous drainage difficulties, with extensive, permanently flooded surfaces, have imposed greater difficulties on the population. The region of the Aguapey-Miriñay streams is gently undulating, with low parts, poorly drained, with shallow estuarine depressions locally named as “esteros”, composed of clayey soils that allow only steppe herbaceous vegetation, with grasslands in the flooded sectors. Sandy hills interspersed and those that accompany the course of the Uruguay river are those that allow the installation of the population and the prolongation of the Misiones forest in gallery distribution. It forms, together with Misiones and the Iberian basin itself, the region organized by the Jesuit missionary system during the colonial period, which advanced with its ranches for grazing to these territories, which the Spaniards and Creoles of Corrientes had not access to it. The Iberá basin is a flat-bottomed basin, with a predominance of estuaries and “esteros” with intervening sandy hills, with the water surfaces of the small lakes and ponds concentrated in its eastern portion. The entire system drains very imperfectly to the southwest, through the Corrientes River until it reaches the powerful Paraná river. This extensive wetland is an ecosystem where the species of the subtropical forest, the spinal cord espinal of Entre Ríos, and the eastern Chaco provinces overlap the vegetation of flood-prone areas. The high rainfall amount feeds the bodies of water, and in times of exceptional rains, the estuaries coalesce, constituting a mantle that exceeds the drainage capacity of its natural collector. It has historically constituted the main obstacle to the rights of the city of Corrientes to command the territories bordering the Uruguay River. Its conditions have generated the existence of a dispersed population, associated with cattle ranching practices of late refinement, the presence of small farms in the interspersed sandy hills and subsistence lifestyles. Its greatest economic potential is located on the northern edge, in the hill that accompanies the Paraná upper river basin, where afforestation and rice cultivation are massively practised. In recent years, a new ecological assessment of wetlands has been rescuing the importance of this territory for both tourism and conservation purposes. The “Puelchense” sand hills correspond to the great oscillation fan of the river when it reaches its base level in the Paraguay-Paraná fault and that extends from the Ñeembucú estuaries in Paraguay to the Iberá system, with a similar morphology. The hill that accompanies the current course of the Alto Paraná river, those located to the north and south of the Riachuelo, Vallejos, Empedrado, Santa Lucía, and other streams, are the bases of human and economic settlement and were, one after another, successive borders in advances to occupy the provincial territory (Maeder 1981). The islets of Chaco tree species, in savannah formations, complete this fragmented landscape, which also recognizes the palm groves and gallery jungle accompanying

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the Paraná river. A scattered human installation, in small properties and with a history linked to the old Indian towns of the colonial stage, alternating with large ranches, is culturally associated with the fragmentation of the landscape. In the southwest of the province of Corrientes, the lower river of the same name continues with environmental conditions similar to the previous unit, but with an orientation device in an almost longitudinal direction. The sandy hills are wider, and to the west, they descend to the wide floodplain of the Paraná river. This central ridge, with the best topographic conditions for human activity, finds it difficult to connect with the plateau to the east and with the river to the west. Thus, the exclusive point of contact with the Paraná river has concentrated population and economy in the town of Goya and its surroundings, constituting an urban centre of regional importance. The Mercedeña plateau or Paiubre recovers the heights of the Misiones regions beyond Aguapey. The elevation of the block took place along Tertiary fractures, where the Corrientes River to the west and the Miriñay stream to the east meet. Its central crest, designed by the retrogressive erosion of the rivers that descend towards the main collectors, constitutes a watershed with heights that exceed 80 m above sea level. The spinal province (Cabrera 1976) manifests itself with palm trees and arboreal islets of species typical of the Entre Ríos mount, dominating the Prosopis genus, which alternate with herbaceous steppe formations, which allow the traditional livestock practice that has alternated between the domain of the cattle and sheep. The occupation preferred the axis of greater heights, commanded by the binomial towns of Mercedes and Curuzú Cuatiá, connecting with Monte Caseros on the Uruguayan shore. With the conditions of the natural environment in the province, it is practically unnecessary to point out that it is affected by flooding of the lower parts, by moderate and still strong water erosion in the spaces with the greatest slope and, in addition, by wind erosion on sandy hills.

6.3 The Chaco and Formosa Both provinces are part of a subcontinental-scale physiographic unit such as the American Gran Chaco, which comes into contact, seamlessly with the Amazon basin to the north and through a phytogeographical and climatic transition, with the Pampas plain, to the south. The Paraná-Paraguay fault marks the eastern limit and towards the west, the plain continues up to the buttresses of the mountainous systems, which in the case of the Argentine territorial framework, are marked by the Subandean and Pampean mountain ranges. The crystalline basement blocks are sunk at different depths along a set of meridian strike faults, to which is added a subparallel orientation secondary system, marked by the Pilcomayo and Bermejo rivers. A thick sedimentary pile from all the geological eras generates a monotonous extension, without marked topographic alterations, with a very slight northwest-southeast slope, which descends from 350 m in the foothills

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of the mountains to 50 m in the valley of the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, along 600 km. The plain is the area of influence of the tropical maritime air masses coming from the South Atlantic anticyclone, which in their displacement towards the west determine variations in the amount and seasonal pattern of rainfall. This generates, in the first place, an eastern strip with excess water, or humid Chaco, with abundant rainfall reaching 1200 mm/per year, without a true dry season, which determines the existence of an important native river network. There continues to be a central, transitional or semi-arid area, between the isohyets of 750 and 900 mm/year, characterized by marked interannual variability in rainfall, which makes the conditions for agricultural practices unpredictable. Finally, it degrades towards the arid western Chaco, with marked water deficit, lacking a drainage network or crossed only by the great allochthonous courses of the Pilcomayo, Teuco and Bermejito rivers. The ordering in depth of the basement blocks has generated a succession of basins and thresholds that appear superficially in small topographical differences, but that in the apparent homogeneity of the plain, affect runoff conditions, soils and successively to the vegetation, the human installation, and the economic activities, creating an environmental mosaic and different potentialities. The ordering in depth of the basement blocks has generated a succession of basins and thresholds that appear superficially in small topographic differences, but that in the apparent homogeneity of the plain, affect runoff, the soils, and later the vegetation, the human installation, and the economic ones, creating an environmental mosaic and different potentialities. At depth, the western threshold corresponding to the Sierra de Guasayán is followed by a deep depression known as the Alhuampa basin. To the east, another threshold separates it from the Chaco Basin, which houses the group of South Chaco and submeridional lowlands which, in turn, are distanced from the Paraná Trench by another lower and narrower pillar (Popolizio et al. 1975), which corresponds to the so-called “woody wedge”. On the surface, the thresholds result in convex topographies—ridges with greater slopes and better drainage—and the basins generate flat sectors, with very little inclination that are not able to organize the runoff of water. In turn, the hydrographic system and the subparallel faults have caused morphological characters that are defined perpendicularly to the system of thresholds and sub-meridian depressions. The great fluvial organisms of the plain are allochthonous; they cross it with a northwest-southeast orientation; they quickly lose their slope when entering the plain, becoming impoverished by infiltration and evaporation; they have a hydrological regime of tropical pluvial type with high flows during the summer. Its lower courses respond to the hydrological conditions of the autochthonous network of the humid eastern Chaco province, with excess water and abundant rainfall, with peaks in intermediate seasons, such as in the provinces of Corrientes and Misiones. The superimposition of tectonic, climatic, and fluvial influences has ended up configuring a mosaic of units with different environmental conditions. Following Bruniard (1979), four environments are recognized in the eastern humid Chaco.

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The largest exceptional bed of the Paraguay-Paraná rivers, which is the area of overflow of maximum flows of both rivers, is wider towards the south of the city of Resistencia, capital city of the province of Chaco, where the secondary courses are oriented north–south and present lines of subtropical forest in the embankments, meanwhile lowlands dominate, subject to flooding, with grasslands and palm groves, only suitable for extensive livestock farming. Towards the north of the city of Resistencia, the plain shows a succession of interfluvial floodplains and depressions, generated by the presence of the autochthonous hydrographic network with a northwest-southeast slope. The high lands host islets of the Chaco forest or the riparian forest settles; both degrade towards the grasslands and palm groves and towards the estuaries and marshes. Two units correspond to the semi-arid central Chaco. The first is the Patiño basin and the Teuco-Bermejito lowlands, with very slight slopes, true base levels with the deposition of a large sedimentary mass, which facilitates the spread of water and lateral spills and course changes. Both fluvial systems are separated by a higher topographic level, which allows the presence of the red “quebracho” and “palosanto” forest, alternating with open spaces of herbaceous vegetation. Towards the south, following the disposition of a wide threshold, the Central Chaco plain is recognizable, elevated, with good soils, better drained, where the xerophytic forest alternates with open spaces of herbaceous vegetation of dry savannahs. It is the agricultural area par excellence, a priority settlement for cotton and for the later “pampeanization” of the agrarian system, but always highly vulnerable due to the pronounced interannual rainfall variability. In the northwestern border of Chaco and Formosa provinces, aridity already dominates. To the north, in the Pilcomayo and Bermejo fluvial basins, the alternation of undulations, ravines and abandoned riverbeds generates, in turn, depending on the soil, the presence of the xerophytic Chaco forest of the Santiagueño “red quebracho” and “white quebracho” (two different species), of the stunted forest and in the clayey and salty areas appears peeling with almost total absence of vegetation. It seems almost obvious, given the natural characteristics of this space, the existence of moderate erosion conditions, both hydric and wind, on bare soils. To these is added the flooding of extensive surfaces that become salinized in periods of pronounced drought, constituting a serious problem that requires an integrated and careful treatment. The excessive exploitation of the forest is necessarily associated with these erosion processes.

6.4 The Northeast and the Great Stages of Capitalism in the West. Potential and Externalities Next, following what was presented by Meichtry and Fantín (2008), we try to locate the processes of occupation of the territory, as well as demographic and economic growth of the Northeastern region, in relation to the extra-regional influences linked

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to the requirements of the different stages of capitalist development, in the understanding that these were guiding the presence of the region in the national panorama and contributing to the generation of the conditions of the binomial quality of life poverty that we wish to interpret today (Meichtry and Fantín 2008).

6.4.1 The Colonial Stage and the Influence of Mercantilism In the Late Middle Ages, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, the long process of formation of exchange markets began, from local to regional markets, laying the foundations for the formation and persistence of urban centres and for the subsequent stage of birth and consolidation of national states in Western and Mediterranean Europe. This necessarily led to the appearance of national exchange markets and the competition to add new domain spaces, always with trade as the essential engine of growth and, under the mercantilist “philosophy”, it gave rise to the stage of the great discoveries for to win new markets, which characterized the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. It is disputed whether mercantilism (1450–1750) was, by itself, an economic system, but it is accepted without any discussion that it established a central idea in the world that has lasted until the present: that one of the “wealth of nations” (Zalduendo 1994). As an economic position, he emphasized that the power of the state was based on the wealth, for which, in the process of discovery, conquest and addition of new territories carried out to increase the exchange markets and therefore the wealth and power, the search for products of high intrinsic value, exotic and with low requirements of volumes and transport times prevailed. This practice obviously entails a model of appropriation and implicit territorialization that gave preference to settlement in regions with wealth in the type of goods demanded by the system and in human capital goods, as they are called today, consisting of settled population, sedentary, with agricultural and animal domestication practices, but not warriors, among the main conditions. A large population and the non-existence of poverty were considered part of the desirable assets for a powerful state, hence also its clear pro-natalist policies. Consequently, in colonial America, Spain privileged the Aztec and Inca world with Mexico and Lima as the main centres, in relation to the metropolis. And, consequently, in the region that concerns us, the settlement was sought in those places where the aboriginal populations allowed and guaranteed it. The occupation of the Northeast began in 1588 with the founding of the city of Corrientes, with a site highlighted for its height and beneficial geographic location at the Paraná-Paraguay rivers’ confluence, this location was occupied by sedentary Guarani aboriginal communities with certain agricultural practices. This settlement had the purpose to serve as a bond between Asunción (the capital city of Paraguay) and the city of Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina) and as a base for the expansion of the border, for which it ran into the impediments presented by the nomadic and warlike indigenous factions of the Chaco to the west, with the difficulties generated

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by the conditions of the runoff systems in their advance towards the south and towards the Republic of Uruguay and with the conflicts with the Jesuit missionary system and its subsequent dissolution. The practice of livestock was the engine of the slow progress in the appropriation and control of internal borders. Firstly, it exercised the use of wild cattle and then, the breeding in ranches since the beginning of the eighteenth century. This activity was the incentive for territorial development at the beginning, but it later became the retarding agent for population growth. It is an economic activity that, in its extensive condition and with little refinement, hardly generates jobs or settles population. Added to this is the non-reinvestment of the capital produced by the sector. These conditions would be overcome only very advanced the twentieth century. Thus, the city of Corrientes took a century to extend its domains to the Santa Lucía River. This space, fragmented by the succession of estuaries and sandy hills, makes communications difficult and requires costly infrastructure works, while the Iberá system constituted a barrier in the advance towards the east. Gaining control over the Uruguay River took another 200 years, until the end of the nineteenth century, when, in turn, it definitively lost a large part of the Misiones region, with the creation of the Argentine National Territory of Misiones, with new boundaries. Another fundamental factor was the permanent assistance of Corrientes province, with men, goods and efforts, to the struggle for independence and the war against Spain, for national organization and for the maintenance and advance of the borders with the Indian. The eastern end of the region was initially structured according to one of the models of European expansion in the Ibero-American colonial world in the mercantilist stage. The Jesuit missionary system began at the beginning of the seventeenth century and reached its maximum expansion towards the middle of the eighteenth century, the moment of the consolidation of the thirty towns and the maximum extension of their ranches for grazing, covering the south of the Republic of Paraguay, northeast and southwest of the current provinces of Corrientes and Misiones, respectively, the Brazilian State of Río Grande do Sul and the northern portion of the Banda Oriental (Maeder and Gutiérrez 1995, p. 66).

6.5 The Entry of Argentina to the Capitalist System. The International Division of Labour and the Agricultural Export Economy In the second half of the eighteenth century, important changes occurred in the west, which would substantially modify the ways of increasing the wealth of nations. In the political sphere, the French Revolution and the American Independence occurred, substantially changing the frameworks in which growth was inscribed. In the field of innovations in technology and production, the industrial revolution took place, imposing the replacement of human labour by machines, the substitution of animal

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power for the use of hydraulic power and steam, the management of new techniques for transformation of the raw material, and the appearance of the factory as a way of concentrating the tasks to improve production and increase productivity. Finally, the field of international trade produced major changes when the UK became the world’s leading economy. With antecedents in the philosophy of English utilitarianism at the end of the seventeenth century, the foundations of the doctrine of economic liberalism began to take shape in Western Europe, hand in hand with the thought of Adam Smith (1723–1790) and David Ricardo (1772–1823), with their respective theories on the division of labour and exchange and the principle of “comparative costs” within the theory of international trade. Adam Smith expressed the idea that the wealth and power of nation-states depended on their ability to produce goods and services, unlike what was previously proposed by mercantilism. In this sense, the division of labour in industry was the essential factor in the growth of production and productivity, which became the main processes in the generation of wealth. He professed the conception of optimistic individualism that considers that man is an economic being and that in the practice of the economy everything happens for the good, therefore, the state must act only by ensuring the freedom of action of the markets. Ricardo’s theory of comparative costs within the conception of international trade was transferred to the notion of comparative advantages of the different geographical spaces and their societies, for the actual production of goods. The fusion of both central ideas gave rise to the so-called International Division of Labour (DIT). Under its precepts, modern capitalism was conceived and the formation in the west of what would be called the Atlantic Ocean system, with the consequent insertion of Argentina in the world system and the development of the agro-export and port economy, evidently based on the comparative advantages of the Pampas region. All these led to the well-known processes of capital investment and incorporation of technology and labour through overseas migration, which totally transformed the previous colonial society and the territorial organization of the country, now with its fundamental weight in the Pampas region. Argentina, faced with the need to respond to the requirements of the economies of the head countries of the system and under the philosophical framework of French positivism with the ideas of Auguste Comte (1798–1857), turned to political and administrative order. This meant the definitive incorporation of the “northern Indian territory”, the recovery of the disjointed regions of the Jesuit missions and the start-up of the region to support the insertion of the country in the world system. The Chaco plain witnessed the military campaigns for the appropriation of the territory and the pacification of the different indigenous factions in pursuit of the political-administrative organization, at the end of the War of the Triple Alliance (1865–1870). The National Territory of Chaco was created in Argentina with its capital in the town of Villa Occidental in 1872. Subsequently, international limits were established, first recognizing Paraguay’s rights over the territory between Bahía Negra and the Verde River (1876) and later, with arbitration by President Hayes of the USA, in 1878, between the aforementioned river and the Pilcomayo river. The vast

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territory would be divided in 1884 into two governorates: those of Chaco and Formosa in Argentina. Thus begins the definitive occupation of the plain, centripetally based on the peripheral model of approach prevailing in the colonial period, advancing towards the heart of the territory. The causes are fundamentally due to the extra-regional demands for hardwoods from the Chaco forest, required first for the installation of ports and railways and later for the production of tannin (Meichtry and Fantin 2001). In short, there are different modes of division and appropriation of the land and economic exploitation, related to the environmental aptitudes of the different spaces. Three rings of occupation were generated, with different land structures: the perimeter colonies, the intermediate estates, and the fiscal heart (Bruniard 1979). The first ring was characterized by the division of the land into small properties. From it would later operate the new mode of incorporation of the territory, with the presence of the large estates. A complex process of concessions to colonize within the framework of the philosophy of “order and progress”, of alienation of public land without the obligation to settle, payment of loans and prohibition of the sale of land near the future railway lines, resulted in the sale of land in large estates. Properties normally greater than 10,000 hectares in the lowlands of South Chaco and fluvial levees and interfluves in the east, extensive divisions in the wooded wedge and the Paraná river valley, fractions greater than 8000 hectares in the loin of Santiago-Santa Fe provinces, extensive fields in the southwest of Chaco, in Santiago del Estero and in the Bermejo basin in Salta. Finally, what remained of the rich wooded wedge and the submeridional lowlands, 1,800,000 hectares, remained in the possession of the London-based Murrieta and Co. The north of Santa Fe province, the east of Santiago province, and the south of the province of Chaco were incorporated into the market economy, through logging for internal and external demand typical of the stage of the international division of labour. It marked the advance of the railroad to the north for the extraction and transportation of poles, sleepers, and logs and invaded the Chaco forest with mills with a highly mobile, floating population of people from Corrientes, Paraguay, Santa Fe, and Santiago provinces residents, who formed the basis of the population of the region, together with the Creoles of Salta and the aboriginal populations. The permanent settlement of the population did not prosper because it was a destructive and itinerant economic activity. In the eastern portion, preferably, the domain of the “quebracho Colorado” from Chaco province determined the installation of the tannin factories towards the end of the nineteenth century, with its quasi-colonial exploitation regime. A significant number of tannin-producing towns has emerged, fundamentally aligned on the South Chaco-Santa Fé ridge, close to the native river network due to high water consumption, or in association with the railway branches penetrating the timber forest. “La Forestal” (The Forestal Land, Timber and Railways Co. Ltd.) was formed, which would come to dominate the world tannin market and which established the system of factory cities where everything belonged to it. Small piers were developed on the Paraná river, for the output of the production, and the forestry and tannin

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activity was complemented with livestock in lowlands, for the supply of meat and draft animals. Within this space of large properties, forestry and livestock, there was still the heart of state land. The world tannin trade, during the years of the First World War, expanded the activity with the arrival of new firms that entered the extensive framework of the large ranches or “estancias”, since the excessive exploitation of the forest required advancing on virgin formations. The activity has began to slow down to almost zero today. The causes can be summarized as: overproduction, falling prices, increased costs due to the need to expand the area of exploitation, greater distances, as well as the decrease in the use of tanned leather and its replacement by other materials. But, behind all these further determinants, was the fall of the external market, the main consumer, due to the new modality of international companies to produce under the plantation system in Africa and Asia, with fast-growing tanning species. A similar process was developed in Misiones after the War of the Triple Alliance (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay) and under the prevailing economic and social philosophy of the international division of labour. In 1881, within the framework of the new processes of administrative political organization of the country, the National Territory of Misiones was created, separating it definitively from the province of Corrientes, which, insisting on its historical rights over the old regions of the missions, founded some towns and colonies, but before the decision of the Argentine State to create the national territories, most of the missionary space was sold in 1881, two million hectares passed into the hands of only 29 legal owners (Bolsi 1986). This was a hard blow for subsequent colonization and settlement attempts. A new stage began in the settlement that culminated around 1920. It was marked by an extractive-type economy, sustained by pioneering advances in relation to forest exploitation and “yerba mate”, the two primary products with which Misiones was inserted in the market economy. These extractive activities carried out by the first pioneer fronts of Creoles (Argentines, Paraguayans, and Brazilians) did not generate permanent settlements, and progress towards the interior of the territory was very slow, even though 38 “yerba mate” mills were installed in the southern part of the region (Bolsi 1986) in the 1870s (Bolsi 1986). As of 1890, the process of agricultural development began, both spontaneously and with scheduled colonization on public lands, with the settlement of Brazilian and European settlers from Brazil. The progress was made following the open pits for forestry exploitation and the use of natural “yerbales”, where “yerba mate” was growing. Agricultural activity would noticeably accelerate after 1920. Thus, the cultivated area in the new territory increased 12 times, particularly with “yerba mate” plantations, with which production grew in the order of 33 times (Bolsi 1986). As seen, both regions of the Chaco and Misiones provinces were incorporated into the national system at this stage, based on their natural potentialities that substantively served the development of the agro-export economy of the Pampas region, which

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was the one that generated the conditions for the entry of Argentina into the Atlantic Ocean system. In Corrientes, meanwhile, the historical direction with which the settlement operated prioritized the occupation of the northwest triangle; the best environmental conditions led to the development of livestock Paiubre; meanwhile, the sectors with the greatest drainage problems were left behind. Under these conditions, Corrientes province never behaved as an area of attraction for settlers. It did not develop an early colonization process like its neighbours to the south-Entre Ríos and Santa Fe provinces—but it became a community of expulsion, a behaviour that traditionally defined it (Meichtry 1986). The impulses to revitalize the provincial economy were ephemeral or of local presence. The railway development at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth has favoured only the head cities of the counties linked to its route and relegated the rest. It can be concluded that this stage of Argentina’s insertion into the world system benefited only those provinces in the region whose production responded directly or indirectly to the requirements of the central economies of the system. This model of production and reproduction of capital would break after the financial crash of Wall Street in 1929 and the consequent world economic crisis of the 1930s.

6.6 Industrialization for Import Substitution or Production for the Domestic Market The financial crisis of 1929 and the resulting economic crisis of 1930, due to the exhaustion of the previous model of production and reproduction of capital, marked its transformation into a system in which the central countries tended to manage the factors of capitalism—capital, technology, and labour of work—preferably between them. This meant, in international trade, the non-dependence on raw materials and food. Thus, faced with the deterioration of the terms of trade, the primary products of the peripheral areas rapidly lost their importance and purchasing power in the world system. This setback hit hard the areas that sustained its growth in the production of raw materials. In the Chaco plains, it hit forestry activity, especially in the Southern Chaco-Santa Fe loin, where the forest was severely degraded. The tannin towns witnessed the closure of the factories, the lowlands were sold for extensive cattle ranching, and agriculture was promoted in the highlands, with crops that were marginal, both for the temperate and subtropical areas. The result was the exodus and the reorientation of forestry activity towards the manufacture of poles, firewood, and charcoal. Migration was directed fundamentally towards the peripheral and most successful urban centres of the region or towards the fiscal heart where cotton production began.

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The cotton production attempts of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries had not prospered for two reasons: the shortage of labour in a crop with high labour force requirements and the lower demand for fibres by an incipient industry textile in the country. Once again, it would be extra-regional factors that would push the cotton cycle. Among them, it should be mentioned: the increase in prices due to the First War and the fall in production in the USA in the 1920s due to the attack of the weevil, the extension of the railway lines from the fluvial margin to Salta Province, and the liberation of local labour due to the forestry crisis. The marked deterioration of the purchasing power of raw materials and food in relation to products of industrial origin, plus the incipient development of the existing manufacturing activity, has led to Argentina’s early entry into the import substitution process after 1930. The industries settled preferably in the Pampas region, which possesses the largest capital reserves and the consumer market, while the other regions, with greater or lesser success, ventured into those branches related to their own products of primary origin and contributed to the development of the new industrial economy with its raw materials and workforce. One of the leading industries was textiles, and the demand for fibres generated the last impulse for the accelerated overturning of the plain towards cotton activity, in those areas with the necessary edaphic and climatic conditions. Thus, the high and well-drained lands were incorporated into agricultural production, while the lowlands subject to flooding were dedicated to livestock. The Argentine National Law 5559/08, also called the Law for the Promotion of National Territories, allowed access to ownership of public land by promoting the layout of the railways to Salta province, financing itself with the sale of neighbouring lands. Of the surveys carried out, part was sold publicly and the greater extension was destined to the creation of agricultural and pastoral colonies. All this gave rise to an accelerated demographic increase, sustained, in the first place, by the native and Paraguayan population that released the fall of the forest cycle, as a true pioneering front of installation in the fiscal heart, without appropriation of the land. Secondly due to the natural growth itself and finally, and still within the mechanics of the international division of labour, due to the arrival of European immigrants, preferably from Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, constituting a second occupation front. This—more spectacular due to its ethnic peculiarities than its volume—must be considered really meager, compared to the previous arrival of internal and border migrants. This process incorporated the germ of its own deterioration. The demand of the internal market led, as in other regional economies, to monoculture. This practice and a set of conditions such as the small size of the cultivated plots, the crises of overproduction, the consequent falls in prices, the appearance of synthetic fibres and the lack of an external market, while the internal market was saturated, led to the decline of the cotton economy from the mid-1950s, dragging down, especially, Chaco and Formosa provinces, highly dependent on the crop. This was reflected in the migratory events and thus Chaco province, as a paradigm of the demographic behaviour of the plain, generated a compulsive behaviour,

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unprecedented in the country, going from a positive migratory growth rate of the order of 27 per thousand during the first half of the century, to reach a negative value close to—29 per thousand during the 1960s (Meichtry 1986). The cotton push did not advance towards the northwestern extremes of Chaco and Formosa provinces, where the water deficit and especially the great interannual variability of rainfall hinder agricultural-livestock practices and even the human installation itself. But, in addition, it also failed to consolidate in the region a base of industrial activities that would diversify the territory’s economy. Misiones responded to the new stage above the industrialization of “yerba mate”, but engaging in tough competition with the voluminous production of Brazil. A strong agricultural colonization was promoted with the obligation to plant “yerba mate”. This needed a sustained population growth, particularly in rural areas, from the creation of new colonies and the expansion of the oldest ones. By then, the National Territory acquired the spatial configuration that still mostly characterizes it. The resulting overproduction crises led to the creation of the CRYM (Regulatory Commission for the Production and Trade of “Yerba Mate”), which began to regulate planting and sought the transformation of an extractive economy into another, decidedly agricultural and diversified with tobacco, rice, corn, and sugarcane. The rural population increased thanks to the contribution of natural growth and the arrival of Paraguayans and Brazilians in the first term, and Italians, Poles, Spanish, Russians, Germans, and Swedes, among the main European contingents. Urban centres were also strengthened. The city of Posadas stood out as the undisputed head and Oberá and Eldorado stood out, leaving older towns relegated, not benefited by the current economic process. In addition, a good number of nuclei were created that would be the basis of the current urban system. The central mountain range remained essentially “yerba mate” and forestry; the Paraná valley participated in agricultural diversity with the inclusion of tung, and the south incorporated rice and livestock. This situation led to the fifth stage of the structuring process of the region, after 1940. It was marked by the duality of “yerba mate” production with profound oscillations, regulated by the CRYM, and a diversification of agricultural activities, incorporating after the World War II the cultivation of tea, while the tung reached its maximum level. Both remained constant since the 1950s. The new agrarian landscape organized the space into large plantations of tung or tea accompanying those of “yerba mate”, or according to a highly diversified chacra model, with production of the three industrial crops—tea, tung, yerba—typical of the productive structure of Missions. They are the same ones that generated the industrial base of the province that was sustained, in addition, in the raw material coming from the forestry activity, both from exploitation and from afforestation and reforestation. Once again, the privileged environment was the Paraná River Valley, while the Uruguay River Valley has been largely postponed by large private estates, as a result of the alienation of land carried out by Corrientes province in 1881. The bad cultural practices in agriculture and forestry, ignoring the steep slopes, and the excessive forest exploitation that degraded the original forest that lost its two

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upper strata, have generated considerable environmental changes. The bare soils are easily washed by the abundant rains, the layers of water do not reach their recharge due to the speed of surface runoff, and the second-growth forest has incorporated invasive species of lower diversity and floristic richness. All these have determined that, with the exception of the surface of the Iguazú National Park and the angle between Alto Uruguay and Pepirí Guazú streams in the extreme east of the province, the processes of fluvial erosion is notorious, reaching greater severity in some sectors of the river valleys and the central highlands (Casas 1998). The incorporation of Corrientes province at this stage of the process was limited. Its economic structure, fundamentally linked to a barely refined livestock activity, could not find a way to adapt to the requirements of the ISI. Therefore, the few attempts to revitalize the economy did not bear relevant fruit. Some positive impacts, although localized, responded to the implantation of industrial crops such as tobacco in the Paraná River region, together with citrus, which later became established in the south of the province towards the Uruguayan riverbank. Meanwhile, the rice and afforestation with pines and eucalyptus that began in the north, on the Alto Paraná stream, advanced to the rest of the territory. Tea and “yerba mate” thrived. Indoor crops of horticultural products, with few spatial requirements, find very good conditions in the sandy hills of the provincial northwest. When the refrigerator technology determined that the best pastures of the prairie and the Pampas steppe were dedicated to raising cattle with better yields and prices for export, sheep settled in the Paiubre. However, essentially livestock, the plateau was refining its rodeos and herds with the practice of new breeding techniques and with the cultivation of fodder. Subsequently, crosses with Indica races were incorporated in the northeast of the province. The territories with the poorest vegetation on flooded regions continue to house extensive and low-quality livestock, to which buffalo breeding has been incorporated in recent years, albeit very occasionally. These attempts were not enough to reverse the migratory idiosyncrasy of Corrientes Province, which seems not to fully find its ways of inserting and taking advantage of the opportunities and situations of the prevailing economic model. The alternatives of the balance obey almost exclusively to the interprovincial movements of natives, particularly to the loss of their own. The values of emigration increase, inform about the demographic dynamism in this stage, which showed a negative rate of growth for the population of Corrientes resident in the province, in the period 1947–1960 (Meichtry 1986). Looking at the three jurisdictions that make up the Northeastern region as a whole, we find that Misiones and, especially, the provinces of the Chaco plain, were initially winners in the framework of the economic evolution of this stage, which was attested by the significant demographic growth and the positive migratory balances they register (Meichtry and Fantin 2001). Sadly, this situation was not sustainable over time and it is perceived that all of them, Misiones, Corrientes, Formosa or El Chaco, continue with their peripheral condition even within the periphery in which the country is located. This situation would not improve in the future.

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6.7 Restructuring and Flexible Accumulation. The Phase of the New International Division of Labour, the Increase in Poverty, and the Loss of Quality of Life The 1970s witnessed the implementation in the West of a new economic model before the exhaustion of the previous one. The world of capital began to manage a different regulatory framework, where the Fordist model of industrial production, associated with the Keynesian economic model and the welfare state, initially led to a process of industrial restructuring, which would later lead to a restructuring of the economy in general. This is based on the prioritization of productivity and competitiveness, in the free play of the markets of neoliberal logic, with an absent State and with everything that is defined as the New International Division of Labour from the point of view of sociology and as “flexible accumulation” from the point of view of the logic of the production and reproduction of capital. Competitive advantages in the world changed fundamentally, hand in hand with rapid advances in transportation and communications technology that facilitated the segmentation of production processes. Thus, within the framework of the time–space collapse, the mobility of the factors of capital varied again in the world, privileging certain production sites. Our country, with an economy strongly structured and based in the previous model and dependent on the capital and technology of the central countries, faced with the conjuncture of change, did not manage to respond quickly to the new model of accumulation. Therefore some activities and some more regions were more affected than others, including the Northeastern area. All the provinces of the region suffered similar processes. The agricultural economy of the Chaco plains demanded a restructuring that had been noticed since the 1960s. It is the process that came to be called “Pampeanization” and that meant, in the first place, the diversification of production with an increase in the area planted with crops of the Pampean type—cereals and oilseeds. It also included the expansion of the agricultural border, modifications in the property regime and size of the parcels with an increase in the presence of extra-regional companies, greater capital investments and the application of technological packages related to mechanization, irrigation, use of pesticides, among other agricultural practices, and genetic manipulation, which, by prioritizing productivity, significantly reduced the capacity to absorb labour and, therefore, to retain the population. The agricultural and forestry structure of Misiones province managed to resist better, given the land organization and the participation of small producers in forestry activities. Throughout the region, these types of agricultural enterprise and production for external destinations without receiving local processing produced few benefits for the area, behaving in a form of economic enclave. These new conditions generated, on one hand, the closure of the already few manufacturing establishments in the entire area and, on the other, marked exclusion of small farms and even of mediumsized producers, as well as strong rural migration towards the main urban centres, where they settle as squatters in precarious settlements, or emigrate to the main

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extra-regional centres of industrial production, without finding the necessary answers either. Once again, productivity and competitiveness were prioritized. There was an intense deindustrialization process; speculative investment or financial valuation of capital was privileged to a redefinition of the role of the state, which happens to be mostly absent. The surplus labour force in primary and secondary activities had to be absorbed by the tertiary sector of the regional economy, finding refuge mainly in provincial and municipal public employment, generating a drop in productivity in the sector, a deterioration in wages and, consequently, increasing the conditions of poverty and precariousness. It was certainly not a question of a tertiarization of the labour market and of the economy related to the sector of new and sophisticated personal services and the high-tech companies of the so-called “informational society”. The provinces of Northeastern Argentina, even though their environmental conditions, their population processes, and their modes of insertion in the market economy differ substantially, arrived at the beginning of the twenty-first century, together with the other jurisdictions of the so-called “Norte Grande region”, forming the most impoverished area and with the worst quality of life in the country.

6.8 New Expectations at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century The total and harsh collapse, in the first years of the current century, of the economic model of the New International Division of Labour at a world level and the extreme economic, social, and political crisis in our country, have led to a slow process of modification of the economic actions, of the exercise of politics, of the presence of the state, of considerations towards society and culture, of redistribution, of social justice, of actions for regional development, etc., which have not yet managed to materialize the expectations generated, but whose results, not yet sufficient, are slowly being seen in the values measured in this work, by the new 2010 Quality of Life/Well-being Index. In the initial pages, we stated that it is our impression in relation to the Northeastern region that the improvements detected in the 2010 quality of life index and its indicators, with respect to the 2001 quality of life index, have continued in recent years after the last national census, so the expectations towards a future census count are, as we said, encouraging. For this reason, it does not seem that the region could abandon its serious position as a territory with the greatest deterioration in the national context and with still extreme shortcomings for its societies. The Northeastern region continues to be, despite the extensive and intense expectations of its societies, the most dispossessed region of our country. Sadly, in several individual indicators, it heads the range of worst conditions in the national territory. Given this fait accompli, we are particularly interested in avoiding comparison with

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the rest of the national jurisdictions and focus on trying to increase the precision in the evaluation within the regional space. We have proposed at the beginning, to analyze the counties of the four provinces, with the same indices elaborated by Velázquez for 2001 and 2010, but varying the thresholds of the cuts of the numerical scales so that they use only the values of the regional scale, to allow us to appreciate more details. We will use only those variables related to the socioeconomic dimension in terms of health, housing, education and quality/well-being.

6.9 Infant Mortality According to the Place of Residence of the Mother Seen in the national context, the infant mortality rate has decreased in general terms in a very interesting way, even though there are innumerable jurisdictions with values higher than 15 per thousand. In the provinces and counties of the Northeast, this improvement is also evident in real values of the rates, but a deterioration is perceived in terms of the general relative positioning of both the province of Formosa and the banks of the Uruguay River in Misiones province. Thus, the Bermejo county, in Formosa province, is among the five worst situations in the country, with a value of 36.9 per thousand. In the opposite case, the decrease in rates and the improvements in the relative positioning of the eastern province in Chaco and the eastern departments in Corrientes province should be highlighted. In the proposed exercise of the variation of the cut-off thresholds, in the separate treatment of the Northeastern region in order to visualize with greater precision the changes that have occurred, it is surprising how, even when the values of the rates do not decrease globally, which are maintained by above 7 points and up to high values of the order of 40 per thousand, a relative spatial “reorganization” is manifested with improvements in the centre-west and southwest of Chaco province, while the situation in the extreme west of Formosa province—the plain mostly aborigine of the Pilcomayo river—or conditions are maintained or worsen in the area of small farms of currents. Apart from the mentioned situations that are more serious and that should draw particular attention, the rest of the counties tend to register improvements or maintain their relative positions in the context of the region (Maps 6.1 and 6.2).

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Map 6.1 Infant mortality rate (‰). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on DEIS. Ministry of Health of Argentina

Map 6.2 Infant mortality rate (‰). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on DEIS. Ministry of Health, Argentina

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6.10 Proportion of Population Without Coverage by Prepaid Health Insurance, Private or Mutual Health Plan One way of knowing health coverage is to consider what proportion of the population does not have social security coverage or a private plan, for which their only health protection is provided by hospitals and health centres that belong to the National, Provincial, or Municipal State. In the northeast, this situation is seriously worrying. Although a slight improvement in the indicator was observed between 2001 and 2010, in the northeast, most of the jurisdictions have more than 40% of the population that does not have access to the possibilities of social work, private or mutual health plan. On the occasion of the 2001 census, six counties were located at the top of the scale, with more than 80% of the population lacking health support (Bermejo, Ramón Lista, and Pilagás in the Province of Formosa and General Güemes Independencia and Maipú in Chaco province), and we are talking about counties that mostly make up the heart of the so-called “Deep Impenetrable”, as it is called today. In 2010, although such extreme values are not recorded, the relative position in the general context continues, with the spatial distribution pattern persisting very clearly, indicating the greatest impact in sectors with the largest informal economy and Creole and aboriginal populations or smallholder peasantry. Observing the cartography and fundamentally in the provinces of the Chaco plain, nothing seems to have changed. The predominance of jurisdictions with indicators above 60% of the population without any type of health coverage is predominant. And all of these necessarily refer to the conditions for generating employment and its quality (Maps 6.3 and 6.4).

6.11 Percentage of Population Living in Households that Have a Toilet Without Flushing or Do not Have a Toilet It should be noted that at the national level, this variable shows a very important improvement, as well as in the region that concerns us. The indicator shows a decrease in the population in homes without a toilet, by half, which leads to improved health conditions in the population. The values change from 97% to less than half as the maximum threshold and are also reduced at the minimum threshold. In any case, the general positioning of our region in the national context has not changed, and once again, the counties of Ramón Lista and Bermejo, in Formosa province, lead the national ranking of adversity for both census situations. Towards the interior of the region, the thresholds of each census date positively show the change achieved, but even so, they show the persistence of those spaces that, as always, continue to be those with the greatest delay.

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Map 6.3 Population without social work (%). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on the 2001 National Census

Map 6.4 Population without social work (%). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source Personal elaboration based on the 2010 National Census

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6.12 Percentage of Population in Overcrowded Households, with More Than Two People Per Room Unlike the previous variable, the improvements indicated by the indicator are practically non-existent, both at the level of the entire country and the Northeastern region. And, in addition, Formosa province in 2001 participated with three of the counties (Ramón Lista, Bermejo, and Matacos) worst positioned in the national ranking, accompanied by the county of San Miguel in the province of Corrientes. This situation is maintained for 2010 with the only change that neither Matacos nor San Miguel are among those with the worst quality of life conditions. Changing the look towards the Northeastern space, the situation is maintained, both in percentage values and in its territorial expression. The maximum and minimum thresholds for both census dates vary slightly, going from 85 to 84% at the highest level of percentage of the population in overcrowded households and from 27 to 22% at the extreme of the best conditions. This clearly indicates the persistence of the housing problem in the region that has not achieved, to this date, solutions of substantive importance (Maps 6.5, 6.6, 6.7 and 6.8).

Map 6.5 Population in households without a toilet (%). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on the 2001 National Census

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Map 6.6 Population in households without a toilet (%). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on the 2010 National Census

Map 6.7 Population in overcrowded households (%). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on the 2001 National Census

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Map 6.8 Population in overcrowded homes (%). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on the 2010 National Census

6.13 Percentage of the Population Aged 15 and Over no Longer Attending School and with a Level of Instruction Reached Less Than Complete Primary This indicator shows a relative improvement in terms of the values at the national level, particularly in the decrease of the levels at both ends of the scale, but the participation of the situation of the Northeast in said context has not changed. The region continues to present the worst indices, leading the scale in 2001 in the counties of Ramón Lista (67.1%) and Bermejo (61.4%) in Formosa province, with more than 60% of its population aged 15 and over who no longer attend to the school with a level of instruction reached less than complete elementary education. In 2010, the extreme values fell almost twenty points and we found the county of San Pedro (48.5%) in Misiones at the top of the scale, and then, the county of 25 de Mayo (47.5%) was recorded in the range of higher values. from the same province and the inevitable Bermejo (46.3%) and Ramón Lista (45.4%) counties from Formosa province, always in the worst positions. Looking at the variation in the situation in the region, it can be seen that what happens at the national level is repeated: the percentages of the population with a low level of formal education improve, both at the minimum and maximum thresholds, but this has not been achieved substantially influence a more egalitarian spatial behaviour. It must be understood, however, that it is not a situation of change in the short term and that it requires continued and persistent policies, since it refers to the population

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Map 6.9 Population without complete elementary education (%). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on the 2001 National Census

that must have spent at least seven years in the formal education system (Maps 6.9 and 6.10).

6.14 Percentage of the Population Aged 15 and Over No Longer Attending School and with a Complete University Level of Instruction Improvements in this condition are recorded in national values, even when they do not approach the optimal indicators for a developed society. Achievements could also be recognized in the region that concerns us, which, in any case, are far from the conditions shown, for example, by the central and Pampean regions of the country. Although in some departments the percentage of the population with a university degree has doubled, the incidence of higher education is still not as important as it should be, and the best conditions are evident in the areas close to university education centres, such as be the provincial capital cities of Argentina (Maps 6.11 and 6.12).

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Map 6.10 Population without complete elementary education (%). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on the 2010 National Census

Map 6.11 University population (%). Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on the 2001 National Census

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Map 6.12 University population (%). Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on the 2010 National Census

6.15 Quality of Life and Well-Being Index It is a synthetic indicator that includes many other dimensions beyond the socioeconomic dimension that we have been detailing in a more particular way. The advances registered are relative, and the indicator is maintained, from one period to the other without great variations between a minimum value of 2.74 points and a maximum of 7 points and where, effectively, the Northeast is always mostly at the two thresholds or intervals indicating major shortcomings. Thus, if for 2001, the Ramón Lista and Bermejo counties in Formosa were among the five worst positioned counties, heading the scale, the same happens for 2010. The Northeastern area continues to be in the position of greatest shortcomings in the regional measurement. When we vary the thresholds, taking only the regional values, an interesting decrease in the spatial representativeness of the most critical values is verified, although in 2010 the worst values persist in the traditional departments of Bermejo and Ramón Lista de Formosa province, an important change in all the centre and west of the Chaco province and centre and southwest of Corrientes province. Consequently, the improvements are shown in the fluvial eastern edge of the Chaco province plain, corresponding to the Paraguay-Paraná fluvial corridor, in the Paraná valley in Misiones and in the entire eastern half of Corrientes provinces. The leadership of the counties that house the provincial capital cities and the largest concentrations of urban population is constant (Maps 6.13 and 6.14).

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Map 6.13 Quality of life index. Argentine Northeast (2001). Source personal elaboration based on Velázquez & Celemín (2020)

Map 6.14 Quality of life index. Argentine Northeast (2010). Source personal elaboration based on Velázquez & Celemín (2020)

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By way of closing, we reiterate that the follow-up carried out on the synthetic indicator of quality of life and well-being and its component variables in the Argentine Northeast for 2001 and 2010 gives the impression that the general conditions and some of the specific ones are on a path of slow improvement in recent years, after the last census count, with which we have worked. It is therefore possible to think that the societies that make up the region are at the beginning of new expectations, surely encouraging, in the search to produce positive changes in the extreme deficiencies of well-being and quality that are still present.

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Velázquez GÁ, Celemín JP (2020) Calidad de vida y escala urbana según regiones en la República Argentina (2010) Velázquez G (2001) Geografía, calidad de vida y fragmentación en la Argentina de los noventa. Análisis regional y departamental utilizando SIG’s. Centro de Investigaciones Geográficas. Tandil Velázquez G (2008) Geografía y bienestar. Situación local, regional y global de la Argentina luego del Censo de 2001. Buenos Aires, EUDEBA Zalduendo EA (1994) Breve historia del pensamiento económico

María Alejandra Fantín Professor in Geography (National University of the Northeast-UNNEArgentina), Master and Doctor in Demography (National University of Córdoba-UNC-Argentina). Tenured Professor by contest of the Geography and Society chair in the Department of Geography of the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Chaco, Argentina). Independent Researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and Category I Researcher of the Incentive Program of the Secretariat for University Policies (Argentina). Former director of the Doctorate in Geography of the Faculty of Humanities of the UNNE. Mirta Liliana Ramírez Professor and Graduate in Geography (National University of the Northeast-UNNE-Argentina), PhD in Cartography, Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing (University of Alcalá, Spain). Tenured Professor by contest of the Technical Chair in Geography II in the Department of Geography of the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Chaco, Argentina). Independent Researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and Category I Researcher of the Incentive Program of the Secretariat for University Policies (Argentina). Director of the Specialization in Geographic Information Technologies of the Faculty of Humanities of the UNNE. Director of the Research Institute for Territorial Development and Human Habitat, Executing Unit of double dependency CONICET-UNNE.