Resumen

SASSANO LUIZ, Silvana. Transformación comercial en Buenos Aires: origen, evolución y localización de los shopping centers como símbolo de la posmodernidad comercial. Rev. Univ. geogr. [online]. 2015, vol.24, n.2, pp. 11-39. ISSN 1852-4265.

This work analyses the evolution, transformation and distribution of the shopping centers in Buenos Aires City, refers to the general situation of the country, and accounts for the potential territorial and organizational development of the shopping centers in Argentina. A multi-method methodology is used and quantitative-qualitative technologies and a range of bibliographical sources are combined. The empirical analysis takes the center of the stage in the investigation as general theories of shopping centers cannot be extrapolated around the world and even less to a peripheral country such as Argentina. The first results show that the shopping centers in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires have acquired local characteristics; they reinforce the urban centrality and do not constitute the germ of new centralities. This fact does not apply to other shopping centers in different parts of Great Buenos Aires or the rest of the country. On the other hand, the centers showed a rapid growth in 90s and they are currently experiencing a new exponential growth in spite of the economic world crisis. The economic and political stability has expanded the "base of the pyramid of consumption ", turning these centers into a new niche of investment.

Palabras llave : Globalization; Consumption; Shopping centers; Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.