Prácticas urbanas entre la regularización y el mercado informal de vivienda: el caso de la Villa 31 en Buenos Aires

Abstract

The present article deals with the Villa 31, one of the oldest informal settlement in Buenos Aires. For decades its location in the city center has generated a very diverse public discourse. But not only its value and use of land provoke different economic and political interests, they are also a consequence of a housing demand that originates an internal economy among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Based on the urban context of this specific place, the article concentrates on two present developments: On the one hand the process of reassessment (and upgrading) of the Villa 31 is examined, which has been initiated and established by the city administration. On the other hand the analysis focuses on the development of a parallel functioning informal housing market within the settlement. In the centre of interest are the practices of appropriation of housing (habitat) and their transformation by the rules of an informal market.