Satellite image of Greater Buenos Aires at night.

Greater Buenos Aires (Gran Buenos Aires, GBA, in Spanish) is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprised by the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative unit. The conurbation spreads to the south, west and north of Buenos Aires; to the east the River Plate serves as a natural boundary.

The term "Greater Buenos Aires" is related with other expressions not necessarily well-defined: the "Buenos Aires' conurbation" (Conurbano Bonaerense), the "Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration" (Aglomerado Gran Buenos Aires), and the "Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires" (Área Metropolitana Buenos Aires, AMBA).

[edit] Definition

Greater Buenos Aires

The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos), INDEC, has defined Greater Buenos Aires to be comprised by:^[1]

[edit] Fourteen fully urbanized partidos

There are three main groups within the Buenos Aires' Conurbation:

[edit] Ten partidos partially urbanized

[edit] Six additional partidos not yet conurbated

As urbanization continues and the conurbation grows, six additional partially urbanized partidos now are fully connected with the conurbation:

The first two groups (24 partidos) comprise the traditional conurbation, or the "conurbation proper". The third group of six partidos is in process of becoming fully integrated with the rest.

Urban sprawl, especially in the years from 1945 to 1980, created a vast conurbation which, as of 2000, had 9,270,661 inhabitants in the above-mentioned partidos and a total of 12,766,002 including the city of Buenos Aires proper.

[edit] References

[edit] Gallery

Adrogué (Almirante Brown partido).	Avellaneda.	Berazategui.	General San Martín.	Haedo (Morón partido).
Lanús.	Lomas de Zamora.	Olivos (Vicente Lopez partido).	Ramos Mejía (La Matanza partido).	San Antonio de Padua (Merlo partido).
San Isidro.	Tigre.	Vicente López.	Villa Ballester (General San Martín partido).	Expressway leading north from Buenos Aires, through Vicente López partido.