Social movements and the production of housing in Buenos Aires; when policies are effective

Abstract

This paper highlights some emerging issues that are critical to the popular housing development carried out within the context of political movements in Buenos Aires in recent years. We analyze the role of the political dimension — in terms of participation in the public domain and of the relationship with power structures — in generating efficient conditions for housing development. This kind of undertaking, framed within a politically organized social movement, has significant capacity for dialogue with the state. On the one hand this allows for mediations that operate as control guarantees, but on the other it generates power and public presence inequalities among active members. Another purpose of this paper is to analyze the potential capacity of this kind of social movement to go beyond the micro and sector levels in their activities, and generate economies of scale in their participation in urban development.