Self-managed social housing in contemporary Argentina

Abstract

This research paper aims to study the self-managed habitat production in contemporary Argentina, as part of a broader process of self-managed debates and practices in Latin America, in which housing struggle became an important subject. There are many studies about FUCVAM's (The Uruguayan Federation of Housing for Mutual-Support Cooperatives) influence in Brazilian housing movements, demonstrating how "imported" self-managed principles from Uruguay unleashed in Brazil a new organization format, even different from the original. By analyzing the importation process of a model to a different reality it is possible to reach new interpretations of the original. In Argentina, the recent experience by MOI (Squatter and Tenants Movement) has stood out among the experiences of habitat self-management, as an innovative proposal in terms of architecture, urban planning and organization, with important innovations regarding the Uruguayan and Brazilian experiences. The recent Argentine context was favorable to the growth of self-management practices in habitat production and the struggle for the right to the city, starting in the fight against the extreme menemist neoliberalism until the fall of President De La Rua, when workers began occupying factories, buildings, streets and squares in a unprecedented process of urban self-management in Latin America after the military dictatorships. In this particular political and social moment, imagination and transformative practices enables the growth of self-management actions in Buenos Aires which will be examined in this research. (AU)