Just in case you were under the impression that I'm an expat living in Buenos Aires, I want to say that I'm not - I haven't even set foot in Argentina nor indeed anywhere in Latin America yet (I live in Montreal), though I'd love to go down there. Nevertheless, as I'm interested in places like Buenos Aires, I have a few questions with regard to Belgrano and other neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires:
1) Does Belgrano have more in common with Nuñez or Saavedra or Coghlan or Colegiales or Villa Ortuzar than with Palermo?
2) Is Villa Urquiza a middle-class to upper-middle-class area but not quite as over the top as Belgrano, let alone Recoleta or Palermo?
3) Does the higher density in Belgrano come not just from the Parisian (Hausmann) model of central-city density and desirability but also from characteristically postwar Latin American/Southern European patterns of placing high-rise apartment towers in many neighbourhoods regardless?
This sounds like you're writing a paper, not researching a move.
Anyway I'll indulge:
1) Belgrano is a large neighbourhood that varies from high density / high rise housing to large single family homes (often very expensive, and often used by embassies). Nunez is very different from one end to the other, near main streets much more high-rises, as you get towards zona norte more low rise / PHs. Saavedra is even less dense, and less wealthy, middle class / lower middle class. many PHs of 50-80 years. Coghlan is a small neighbourhood that is mixed again, single family homes and smaller high rises, wealthier generally than Saavedra. Colegiales also a mixed neighbourhood. Villa Ortuzar is mostly smaller 4 storey buildings and PHs, very high demand and hard to find PHs in the area as it is tiny, it is well placed, and once you're in your probably not leaving any time soon. This said, there are always higher density buildings along main avenues in each barrio, and in pretty much every one of them you have a full spectrum of income from very wealthy to squatter homes (and villas, there is one in Nunez/Saavedra, there's a lot of casas tomadas as well).
2) First, Belgrano is over the top only in extremely specific streets, so I would never really ever consider it an over the top neighbourhood (there are plenty of other barrios that would fit that description). Villa Urquiza is our new neighboughood, we just moved here from Las Canitas a couple of weeks ago. Again there is a very large mix of people, by Triunvirato it is much more working class feeling, by the vias etc. However there are many very nice houses, a good mix of schools private/public religious and non-. For what we would have paid for a 60m2 3amb (before expenses) in Las Canitas we now are in a 90m2 + terraza with garage home with no expenses. Trade off is we don't have any really decent restaurants within walking distance.
3)This is why everyone assumes your writing a paper. I have no idea. Google it, or learn some spanish so you can read some city planning articles from the govt on the web.
