Barrio Güemes

The northern part of Barrio Güemes, corner of San Juan and Belgrano

Location of Güemes in Cordoba

La Cañada in the northern part of Barrio Güemes

Barrio Güemes is a neighborhood in the Argentine city of Córdoba . It is located southwest of the center and is bordered to the east along the Avenida Velez Sarsfield at Nueva Córdoba . Its area is 129.52 hectares (1.3 km ² ) and the population is 11,679. Güemes belongs to the zone of CPC Ruta 20 in the southwest of Cordoba.

geography

Barrio Güemes stretches along the canalised La Cañada stream , which forms the western border in the south; in the north it extends beyond the west bank. Avenida Marcelo T. de Alvear runs along the shore . The traditional main street of the district is the Belgrano , which runs in a north-south direction , where gastronomy and trade are concentrated. The section of the Belgrano between Avenida Pueyrredón and Montevideo has been placed under monument protection, as there are numerous historical buildings such as the San Francisco Solano Chapel , the home of the same name and the Misión de los Padres Vicentinos .

The green spaces include Plazoleta Aníbal Montes and Plaza de las Américas on the border with Nueva Córdoba and Ciudad Universitaria , the site of the University of Córdoba.

Demographics

The population density is 90.7 inhabitants / ha or 9070 per km ² . Similar to neighboring Nueva Córdoba , many students of the University of Córdoba live in Güemes; the age groups between 15 and 24 (3,459) and between 25 and 44 (3,491) are statistically overrepresented.

history

The quarter emerged in the 19th century from a poor settlement called El Abrojal . In 1862 the Plaza de las Carretas , a marketplace for hawkers, was established. From 1890, on the initiative of Mayor Luis Revol, a complex of 60 social housing was built on the site of this plaza, which was occupied by poor Italian, Spanish and Arab immigrants. These were mainly active in the beverage trade and brought the tango culture to Córdoba, which developed mainly around the trade and inn Casa de Pepino (now an art and history museum).

Artisan and bookstores on Avenida Alvear

Bars in a courtyard near the Paseo de las Artes

In 1980 the social housing complex was restored and converted into the Paseo de las Artes cultural center , which now houses the Museum of Latin American Art, several galleries and a craft market. Because of its old town character, the northern part of the district then developed into a center of gastronomy, the antique trade and tourism. Sometimes Güemes is referred to as " San Telmo Córdobas" based on a traditional district of Buenos Aires .

Social problems

For a long time, the southern part of the quarter was characterized by poor neighborhoods ( villas miserias ). In 1996 and 1997 the large informal slum El Pocito was demolished and its residents relocated to the periphery of the city, followed by Los Mandrakes on the southwest border in the mid-2000s . In the extreme south there is still a slum, which is colloquially known as Chaparral , but by the city government as Las Américas - Vélez Sársfield . It is the last major slum in the central area of Cordoba.

The social situation today is uneven; While the upper middle class has dominated the north since the modernization of the quarter and the relocation of the slum El Pocito , poverty continues to be found in the south . Child mortality in 2009 was among the highest in Cordoba's neighborhoods, at 28 per 1,000 live births, according to a report in La Voz del Interior .