Where the informal is: the case of Villa Itatí and the struggle over urban formalization in the city of Rosario, Argentina

Keywords: informality, scales, decolonial approach, situated knowledge, urban geography, Argentina
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

Through the analysis of the urbanization process of the neighborhood of Itatí, in the city of Rosario, Argentina, I will discuss the concept of informality from a situated and decolonial perspective. Itatí is one of the city’s “villa miseria” (informal settlement), where around 2500 inhabitants have established their home since the 70’s. Analyzing the successive programs of “urbanization” led by the Department of Housing and Habitat of the city (in collaboration with the National State and the Interamerican Development Bank), I will reflect on informality as a construct and a political process involving a variety of actors engaging in relations of cooperation, negotiation and conflict. I will look at the spatial definition of informality by the local state and at the solutions designed and implemented to formalize the neighborhood – questioning the conflicts generated. The “opening” of the neighborhood, presented as a strategy of integration to the “formal city”, raises issues around the production and use of public space between different urban actors and categories of population.
This case will also be the opportunity of a reflection around the scales of informality, specifically in the context of an intermediary Latin American city. The approach of the city as a territorial system will allow me to detect the variety of actors involved in the spatial dynamics, struggling to model urban space mobilizing different resources, capacities and power. I will also think about informality as a substantial component or the urban infrastructure in Rosario, as in many other cities in the region.