Informal Settlements in the South of Buenos Aires’ Periphery: Origins, Organization and Habitat Policies

Abstract

This paper will discuss the emergence of informal settlements which were encouraged by the housing crisis caused by macroeconomic and urban policies at the end of the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983) On one hand, the aim of this paper is to reconstruct the modes of occupation used by the popular sectors to develop these neighborhoods, as well as the social, political and religious organizations that fueled them. On the other hand, we are interested in analyzing the inhabitants’ views concerning another way of “auto urbanizing” the metropolis which has been maintained till the present.