Buenos Aires Compared in Size to Other Cities

Buenos Aires is often compared to other cities around the world. Many a guidebook waxes lyrical about the “Paris of the South”. Puerto Madero is Manhattan (at least to those who have never been to Manhattan) and the leafy parks of Palermo have reminded more than one visitor to the large open space of Central Park. I like a good comparison and today I began wondering how did Buenos Aires stack up to other world cities in terms of size. I know it’s 80 square miles with a population of a shade under 3 million, but what does that mean, when comparing to another city I know well, such as London? I decided to find out.

Above is a map of London, taken from Google maps with the outline of Buenos Aires at the same scale overlaid. I’ve highlighted some of the well-known spots in the city to make it easier to gauge the size. The Plaza de Mayo is roughly where the London Bridge is, which puts Plaza Dorrego round about Waterloo, Caminito in Peckham and Plaza Italia the other side of Regents Park on Primrose Hill and Congreso de Tucuman way out in Hendon.

Paris is a much smaller city and the Péripherique fits nicely inside Capital Federal. Travel from Recoleta to Mataderos and you cross the entire Buenos Aires of the North. There might be architectural influences, but there’s a whole load more of it here than up there.

Moving to New York and the scale seems much more in line with each other. The 5 boroughs dwarf Capital Federal with Mataderos down on Governor’s Island and Plaza de Mayo up near Jackson Heights and La Guardia.

San Francisco fits quite nicely into the Argentine capital. If Recoleta is downtown, then you have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Congreso de Tucuman, and buy a boat to get to the market at Liniers.

Here we have my old hometown of Geneva, totally swamped by my new place of residence. The city itself is about one tenth of Buenos Aires and both Caminito and the end of the D Line both find themselves in France either side of the town where one of Buenos Aires’ most famous sons, Jorge Luis Borges is buried.

These images are not the most precise maps in the world (and I make no guarantee of their complete accuracy), but are a bit of fun and help put the size of Buenos Aires, and the journeys we take here every day into perspective. I’ll keep adding more over the next few days – if there is a city you would like me to add, let me know in the comments.

**UPDATE**

As requested by Beatrice, here is the clash of the sprawls – Buenos Aires takes on Los Angeles

And especially for my friend Daniel here is Stockport masquerading as Plaza Once