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Morning drive around the capital city of Buenos Aires Argentina in South America. Follow my upcoming travels in Europe and North America on Instagram! Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina. “Buenos Aires“ can be translated as “fair winds“ or “good airs“. The Greater Buenos Aires conurbation constitutes the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas, with a population of around 15.6 million. The Buenos Aires Central Business District is the main commercial centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina, though not an official city ward. While the barrios of Puerto Madero and Retiro house important business complexes and modern high-rise architecture, the area traditionally known as Microcentro (Spanish: Microcenter) is located within San Nicolás and Monserrat, roughly coinciding with the area around the historic center of the Plaza de Mayo. The Microcentro has a wide concentration of offices, service companies and banks, and a large circulation of pedestrians on working days. Another name given to this unofficial barrio is La City, which refers more precisely to an even smaller sector within the Microcentro, where almost all the banking headquarters of the country are concentrated. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Province's capital; rather, it is an autonomous district. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores; both are now neighborhoods of the city. The 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires; “CABA“). Its citizens first elected a chief of government (i.e. mayor) in 1996; previously, the mayor was directly appointed by the President of the Republic. Buenos Aires' quality of life was ranked 91st in the world in 2018, being one of the best in Latin America. In 2012, it was the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America (behind Mexico City). Buenos is known for its preserved Eclectic European architecture and rich cultural life. Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires hosted the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit. Buenos Aires is a multicultural city, being home to multiple ethnic and religious groups. Several languages are spoken in the city in addition to Spanish, contributing to its culture and the dialect spoken in the city and in some other parts of the country. This is because in the last 151 years the city, and the country in general, has been a major recipient of millions of immigrants from all over the world, making it a melting pot where several ethnic groups live together and being considered one of the most diverse cities of the Americas. Architecture Buenos Aires architecture is characterized by its eclectic nature, with elements resembling Paris and Madrid. There is a mix, due to immigration, of Colonial, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Neo-Gothic, and French Bourbon styles. Italian and French influences increased after the declaration of independence at the beginning of the 19th century, though the academic style persisted until the first decades of the 20th century. Attempts at renovation took place during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when European influences penetrated into the country, reflected by several buildings of Buenos Aires such as the Iglesia Santa Felicitas by Ernesto Bunge; the Palace of Justice, the National Congress, all of them by Vittorio Meano, and the Teatro Colón, by Francesco Tamburini and Vittorio Meano. Newer modern high-technology buildings by Argentine architects in the last years of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st include the Le Parc Tower by Mario Álvarez, the Torre Fortabat by Sánchez Elía and the Repsol-YPF tower by César Pelli.
