The production of urban space as an authoritarian political project: An analysis of the urban development project for Cidade dos Meninos in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Keywords: Production of Space, Authoritarian Political Actors, Territorial Control, Global South, Brazil
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 4/9/2021 04:40 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/9/2021 05:55 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 33

Abstract

For urban Marxists, urban space is at the core of social change, which is achieved through ownership, management, and production of space. In the global south, the way space was produced by the urban poor in favelas and peripheries was central to social change in the 20th Century. However, what happens if the production of space starts to be monopolized, and eventually altered by authoritarian political actors? The label refers to heterogeneous groups—specifically, milícias, drug traffickers, and some evangelical churches in Rio de Janeiro—that aim to control different areas of the city and the everyday life of its residents, and have a partisan political ambition. In the 21st Century, in addition to territorial control, they started to monopolize the production of space. A key example of this is the urban development project for Cidade dos Meninos—a 20-hectares area in Duque de Caxias, a city in the state of Rio—put forth by some of these actors. Although it is unclear for what purpose they are using the production of space, one can observe that Rio and Brazil more broadly, are experiencing a wave of authoritarianism rising in parallel with changes in these actors’ relationship with space. This research sees the production of space as a micro-technology of power used by these actors to advance an authoritarian political project. This paper will use interviews, participant observation, and archival research to examine: How is the production of space being used not for social change, but for an authoritarian political project?