Social Landscape, Peripheral Inclusion and Un-Practice: Concepts for Understanding Social Housing Daily Life in Open Spaces

Abstract

This article presents new concepts for discussing urban social space, named “social landscape”, “peripheral inclusion” and “un-practice”. These concepts are based on the analysis of social practices in vulnerable neighborhoods with a high number of social housing blocks in South America. The aim of the article is to show that the complexity of social practices in vulnerable urban areas is not only the result of the urban environment, which combines social inequality, marginalization and insecurity, but also and above all of the management and maintenance of this inequality. The research method combines bibliographical research with the method of non-participant systematic observation, the latter analyzing everyday life in social housing areas of São Paulo-SP (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile). The discussion and results will lead the reader to understand not only the concepts, but also the idea that open spaces have an important role in social practices, especially public spaces. It seeks to demonstrate the importance of linking public spaces and housing in public policies for the creation of social housing, as opposed to housing policies that focus on the production of architecture disconnected from the urban and social reality.