Socio-territorial inequality and differential mobility. Three key issues in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region

One of the main challenges that geographers and urban planners face when thinking about mobility in Latin American cities is how to accurately assess the effect produced by severe social and territorial inequality. In an attempt to explore this question, this article analyses three key issues related to the inequality-mobility relationship: a) mobility as a facilitator in the access to goods, services and opportunities at different urban scales, and its direct effects on poverty and social exclusion; b) socially and territorially conditioned assets and competences among individuals when managing mobility needs and territorial control; and c) the uneven appropriation and use of the city, both in terms of proximity and connection to metropolitan networks. Analysis is carried out on secondary information on transport and mobility at the metropolitan scale according to income level and territorial location of households. This is followed by examination of three specific cases in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region that show the importance of territorial features when addressing mobility patterns of particular socioeconomically vulnerable groups, including: mobility of informal settlers in urban peripheries; mobility of domestic workers in gated communities; and mobility of residents at risk of displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods. The key findings highlight how the particular territorial conditions can intensify or attenuate the pre-existing socioeconomic inequality.