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Local Politics and Urban Development Policy in Buenos Aires' Most YALE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE The Transformation of Villa 31 Local Politics and Urban Development Policy in Buenos Aires’ Most Emblematic Slum Matthew Toland Senior Essay in Political Science Advisor: Elisabeth Jean Wood April 24, 2018 Acknowledgements The people who live and work in Villa 31 made this essay possible. Residents trusted me with their stories, allowed me to observe how they live, and invited me to participate in their daily activities. Government employees, architects, and people who work with non-profit organizations shared their experiences and risked including me in their interactions with residents of this community. I am also indebted to my advisor, Elisabeth Wood, whose involvement in this project reaches back to my sophomore year, when she began preparing me to carry out ethnographic research after accepting me into her graduate-level research methods course. She then supported my moving to Buenos Aires to study abroad and carry out field research, during which time she acted as a sounding board that helped propel this project. Her attentiveness to my analysis and writing, together with her questions, kept me turning over the evidence presented in these pages. Others at Yale supported my academic path and/or this project in various important ways. Risa Sodi and Camille Lizarríbar helped me prepare my petition to study abroad, for which Dean Lizarríbar wrote a letter of support and David Simon endorsed. The Center for International and Professional Experience was crucial to the fellowships I was awarded to carry out field research, namely, the Yale College Public Service Research Grant, Stephen Clark Senior Essay Travel Grant, and Sunrise Foundation Travel Grant. The MacMillan Center also provided a grant for transcription services. I am also grateful to Derek Green for his suggestions on content, syntax, and narrative prose. In Buenos Aires, specific plans for this project proceeded from a conversation I had with Julián Varas at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, who told me to have a taxi drive me along the highway that cuts through the center of Villa 31 so that I could witness public policy underway in the city’s most emblematic slum. From that point onward, friends and colleagues in Argentina put me in touch with those who would become a part of this study. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Pablo Vitale, María Mercedes di Virgilio, María Cristina Cravino, Kelly Olmos, and Danilo Rossi. Intent on sharing their culture and work with me, these people helped ground this essay in the local context out of which Villa 31 has grown. This essay is dedicated to my parents and Sebas. i If today you wanted to carry out research using exact figures to determine trends and projections concerning Villa 31 of Retiro (population, poverty indices, unemployment, illiteracy, birth/mortality rates, delinquency, etc.), no consulting company or government agency could depict the real situation, as we know it, live it, suffer it, fight it, we who are its true owners. - Nelly Azul Benítez, resident of Villa 31, since circa 1970, Buenos Aires ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... i Maps ............................................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... v Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 9 Methodology and Research Design .............................................................................................. 15 Context .......................................................................................................................................... 24 Background ............................................................................................................................... 24 Location, Spatial Characteristics, and Demographics ............................................................. 27 Settlement, Expulsions, Growth, and Policies Toward Social Inclusion .................................. 31 Actors ........................................................................................................................................ 35 The Local Politics of Building a Better Life ............................................................................. 37 Current Institutional Framework and Integration Policies ...................................................... 47 Barriers to Entry ............................................................................................................................ 53 A Bargaining Tool..................................................................................................................... 58 A Mechanism for Local Control ............................................................................................... 64 A Strategic Location ................................................................................................................. 66 How Local Politics Shaped the Implementation of the PMV .................................................... 69 The Challenges of Participation .................................................................................................... 70 Who decides versus who provides? .......................................................................................... 73 Sources of Tension and Frustration .......................................................................................... 78 Renters .................................................................................................................................. 78 Homeowners ......................................................................................................................... 80 Cooperatives ......................................................................................................................... 84 Government ........................................................................................................................... 86 Homebuilding, Reflection, and Learning through State Institutions ........................................ 88 Compliance within the PMV and Beyond .................................................................................... 91 Reasons to Comply .................................................................................................................... 95 Reasons not to Comply.............................................................................................................. 98 From Autonomy toward Heteronomy through Compliance ................................................... 101 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 103 iii Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 109 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 112 Maps Map 1: Aerial Photo of Villa 31 circa 2010-2014 ........................................................................ 30 Map 2: Neighborhood Organizations, Institutions, and Commercial Centers .............................. 31 Map 3: Named Sectors and Block Numbers of Barrio 31 [Villa 31]............................................ 37 Map 4: Location of Government Offices ...................................................................................... 48 Map 5: The trajectory of the PMV from 2016 through 2019 ....................................................... 52 iv Abstract In rapidly urbanizing communities of the Global South, residents of informal settlements confront the challenge of state efforts to integrate their communities into the broader city/state project. In this paper, I draw on ethnographic field research carried out from May-August 2017 and December 2017-January 2018 to analyze how state and non-state actors – such as residents, local cooperativas, and government employees – negotiate the social integration of Villa 31 in a context of increased state presence and capital being channeled toward building projects. This immersive approach to the study of the politics of integration uncovers how the state addresses the fundamental challenge of gaining entry to Villa 31 necessary for carrying out public policy, catalyzes participation with residents, and seeks to generate compliance. By charting change from the perspective of community residents, I bring decisions made by diverse actors into sharp relief, exposing the power dynamics within Villa 31 that underpin human agency. I analyze these issues primarily through the prism of the Programa de Mejoramiento de Vivienda (PMV), which promises upgrades to existing homes in Villa 31 that are carried out by local cooperatives. Social tensions between state and non-state actors center on residents pursuing access to resources and opportunities, on the one hand, and the preservation of their individual and collective
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