DIFERENCIACIÓN SOCIAL EN EL ESPACIO URBANO. PROCESOS DE TRANSFORMACION DEL PARCELARIO EN BOCA DEL RIO, VERACRUZ, MEXICO (1976-2012)

Abstract

[EN] The relationship between social differentiation and urban space is a frequent subject in Latin American urban research. It is a constant recognition of a social situation that determines an unequal space, where expressions of exclusion, segregation and fragmentation, are indissolubly addressed. In the first part, this research explores the relationship between social differentiation and land ownership on which the urban space is structured along neoliberal policies which favour the conversion of previous social land into land open to the private market. The spatial and temporal reference in this research is the city of Boca del Rio, a metropolitan coastal area in Mexico, whose urban settings match the process of implementation of neoliberal urban policies in the country starting in 1976 until the present century. There, soil depletion within its municipal boundaries led development to the coastal strip of the neighbouring municipality of Alvarado, with structural changes in the ownership and new forms to solve the residential space. In the second part, the thesis focuses on the incorporation of land ignoring its original allocation, with homogeneous urban forms, fragmented and unrelated to each other, in detriment of the heterogeneity found in the cities. The resulting conformation is so critical that planning has classified it as the current Latin American model. In short, the neoliberal scheme demonstrates its effects in two components: a previously social ownership regime being currently privatized and; the creation of gated, fragmented communities which assimilates areas into the privatization trend, areas which should be shaping the city, as public spaces. The argument leads to reflection on the participation of the public sector, who is traditionally the main responsible in city making, especially in two big areas of action; urban improvement of former unregulated developments, a priority which defers attention of other areas of the city, and the control on new regulated spaces, currently developed by the private sector. Through case study in Boca del Rio this reality is contrasted with the theoretical references, supporting the possibility of coexistence in the difference, by reconciling mutual interests. This thesis holds that such interests will not disappear, but each will act in the right proportions as long as the public sector retakes its role as the main city maker.; [ES] La relacion entre la diferenciacion social y el espacio urbano, es un tema frecuente en las investigaciones urbanisticas latinoamericanas con el reconocimiento constante de una situacion social condicionante de un espacio desigual, en el que las expresiones de exclusion, segregacion o fragmentacion son indisolublemente abordadas. Esta investigacion, en una primera parte es orientada a partir de la busqueda de la relacion entre la diferenciacion social y especificamente el tipo de propiedad del suelo sobre el que se estructura y adquiere forma el espacio urbano, impactado recientemente por las politicas neoliberales, que…