Social housing processes in the peri-urban interface of Buenos Aires: The case of Virrey del Pino

In recent decades, new spatial configurations have emerged between urbanized and rural areas, yet the role of state-led social housing programs in shaping these territories remains underexplored. This study examines the transformation of Virrey del Pino, in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires (Argentina), through interpretative cartography. This area, characterized by public social housing policies, provides an opportunity to reveal how different logics have contributed to the construction of this sector of the peri-urban interface. Territorial transformations are reconstructed across three historical stages, identifying an expansion driven by Federal Housing Programs and informal settlements over agricultural land. This process began in the 1970s and was conditioned by unfavorable site and locational conditions, municipal responses to social housing needs, and the local socioeconomic structure. The findings demonstrate that public housing policy participates in the production of peri-urban space in multiscalar and heterogeneous ways, while local government decisions play a decisive role in its morphological configuration. The study contributes to international debates on peripheral suburbanization, social housing, and territorial production in the Global South.