DOSSIER - Buenos Aires: after the dark years, a new-found optimism

Although it took Argentina a long time to emerge from the crisis of 2001, Buenos Aires is now pulling out all the stops. Its aim: to become a capital that is as creative as it is competitive on the international stage. The very first city to be recognised as a City of Design by UNESCO is focusing on fashion, the audiovisual sector, the arts and publishing... The city's appearance is being modernised, thanks in particular to the new Puerto Madero district, where multinationals are setting up shop in gleaming towers along the renovated docks. It was also here that the trend for luxury boutique hotels was born, a phenomenon that was still non-existent at the beginning of the millennium. Today, the Portègne hotel industry - a term used to describe the inhabitants of this port city on the banks of the Rio del Plata estuary - has grown in substance and substance. The backdrop to this real modernity is women, who are playing an increasingly important role in the economic and social fabric. Starting with the country's first female president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Text Cécile Balavoine - Photos Ludovic Maisant