A presença de atores internacionais em políticas urbanas na América Latina: os casos de Quito e da Cidade do México

Abstract

One of the processes driven by economic globalization with visible effects on the production of urban space is the continuous expansion of the capital boundaries, consolidated in large cities through the deepening of the appropriation of territories with the aim of maximizing profits. In this context, the implementation of urban policies under the auspices of actors such as the IDB and the World Bank gains a fundamental role. Therefore, this article intends to discuss the privatization of the urban space through two quite different cases but sharing the prevalence of a market logic and of the private interests over the collective ones. The policies to be analyzed in this paper are, namely, the urban renewal in the historic center of Quito under the pretext of architectural-heritage preservation, involving outcomes such as changes in intracommunity relations, securitization, gentrification and a loss of local identity; and the social housing policy in Mexico City, which is linked to a context, at the national level, of consolidating policies for the reform of housing institutions, and is characterized by the series production of housing estates far from the central regions, resulting in a reality of massive emptying of houses. Finally, it will be also mentioned some perspectives of resistance across Latin America and policies that counter the dynamics of privatization and appropriation of public space discussed in this paper