State-led gentrification in three Latin American cities

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many authors agree that gentrification in Latin America depends on the intervention of the state. However, for the renovation of large urban areas that have long lacked public attention, state intervention is a pivotal driver. This comparative analysis involved fieldwork analysis and short ethnographies in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Results show variations and some common threads, namely land valorization policies, schemes designed to promote the creation of economic opportunities for upper-income investors and developers, the establishment of creative or cultural industrial hubs, investment in new transport and cultural infrastructure, city rebranding, and the use of iconic architecture. Displacement policies have been implemented in Brazil, although with limited success. In Brazil and Mexico, attempts have been made to control social behaviors within particular spaces, often in a racialized manner. We arrive at a narrative that differs from that of the Global North, which considers state-led gentrification to constitute the privatization of social housing under the hegemonic imposition of discourses of “social mixing.” The concept of state and its trajectory differ considerably in each hemisphere.