The middle classes and the challenges of participation: processes of citizenship in the production of the city (La Plata, Argentina. 2013-2015)

Abstract

The question about the relationship between associative forms of participation and city production is the guideline of Latin American urban studies, widely studied in its intersection with popular sectors. This article seeks to link to that discussion, providing a case where the population involved belongs to the middle classes. To do this, we will analyze the process by which middle class youth collectively organized (2013-2015) in the city of La Plata (Argentina), to access urban land and, with it, a housing policy (PROCREAR). We will investigate how they built their claim on a public problem, moved within statehood and became co-producers of urban regulations (Ordinance 11094/13). Our main finding will be that the effectiveness of their practices rested, on the one hand, on factors specific to the group —broad and hierarchical networks of social relationships; collectivization of cultural capital; habituality within statehood— on the other, in the selectivity of state bureaucracies. Based on this, we will conclude that during the collective action of the middle classes in order to get involved in the production of the city, there was an active process of citizenship. The research starts from a qualitative methodological approach, using virtual ethnography, field observation and in-depth interviews as the main procedures.