Machines for living in Communication technologies and everyday life in times of urban transformation By Sebastian Ureta leaza Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Media and Communications in the Department of Media and Communications London School of Economies and Political Science January 2006 Supposing that the planet earth were not a sphere but a gigantic coffee table, how much difference in everyday life would that make? Haruki Murakami Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world 2 Index Index 3 Executive summary 5 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 Chapter 1 19 Introduction 19 1. Defining places 20 2. Critiques (and Counter-critiques) of Place 30 Conclusions 36 Chapter 2 39 Introduction 39 1. The Field 40 2. Methods used 48 3. Reflections on the fieldwork 55 Chapter 3 62 Introduction 62 1. 'Building' the house 63 2. The end of the 'barrio' 69 3. Changes in the urban landscape of Santiago in the last decades 75 Conclusions 79 Chapter 4 81 Introduction 81 1. Outer mobilíty 82 2. Inner mobilíty 86 3. Spatial mobility and social integration 96 Conclusions 101 Chapter 5 103 Introduction 103 1. Practices and localities 104 2. Localities of practices 110 3. An example: the swimming pool 114 Conclusions 116 Chapter 6 119 Introduction 119 1. Multiple médiations 120 2. Media médiations 122 3. Media technologies use as practices 126 Conclusions... 129 Chapter 7 132 Introduction: Living in 'dull homes' 132 1. The Place of Television 138 2. Television and ceremonial spaces 143 3. Television and functional uses of space 150 4. Television and Private Uses of Space 153 Conclusions 157 Chapter 8 162 Introduction 162 1. Intimate strangers 163 2. The Noise made by People 166 3. The Politics of Sound 170 4. The battles for space 175 3 Conclusions 184 Chapter 9 187 Introduction 187 1. The un-mediated past 188 2 'Practising' Mobile phones 190 3. Mobile Phones and the Construction of 'Virtual' Localities of Practices 199 Conclusions 205 Conclusions 210 Introduction 210 1. Summary of the Undings 212 2. Machines for living in 214 3. Policy implications and further steps 220 Final Remarks 223 References 225 Annex 1 235 Index of pictures, graphies, tables and boxes Pictures 1 to 4, Tucapel Jimenez II housing estate 12 Graph 1, Evolution of poverty 39 Box 1, Characterization of new urban poverty 41 Graph 2, Population under the line of poverty in 2000 42 Picture 5, Map of the Housing estate 44 Picture 6, Map of the houses 46 Table 1, Summary of fieldwork actions 49 Box 2, Positive perceptions of the new homes 65 Box 3, Negative perceptions of the new homes 66 Graph 3, Daily trips per person 76 Table 2, Access to home technologies 77 Picture 7, Movement of Johanna 83 Table 3, General indicators of spatial mobility 86 Graphie 4, Motorized trips 87 Pictures 8 and 9, the main square 113 Pictures 10 and 11, the swimming pool 114 Graphie 5, Time use in media technologies 136 Pictures 12 to 15, TV and cérémonial places 144 Pictures 16 to 19, TV and private places 153 Picture 20, Plan of the buildings Tucapel Jimenez II 164 Pictures 21 and 22, location of computers 221 4 Executive summary This thesis investigates the degree to which our everyday conceptions of 'place' have changed in contemporary society, especially in relation to the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). The empirical evidence is a case study of 20 low-income families who live in Santiago, Chile. These families had just moved to a new social housing estate from the shantytowns and/or situations of extreme overcrowding. The first section of the thesis examines how their conceptions of 'place' have changed as a result of the move. On the one hand, it is difficult for them to perceive the housing estate as a 'place' with the same characteristics as their former home environments (close social networks, common history, etc.) due to a difficult and still incomplete adaptation. On the other hand, their social exclusion, especially demonstrated in terms of their limited spatial mobility, means that their everyday life still unfolds in a limited and relatively static number of places. In these circumstances they develop a minimal concept of place based not on an emotional attachment to a space, but rather on particular practices located in certain time and space. This concept of place is labelled here as 'localities of practices'. The second part of the thesis examines how these 'localities of practices' are becoming increasingly 'mediated,' or the increasing degree to which the use of ICTs permeates the conceptions of place of the members of these families through an analysis of practices related to the use of three particular technologies. The first study shows how the home is a project that has to be constructed in a constant competitive interplay with the place created by television use. The second analyses how the noise produced by hi-fi technologies at very high volumes is used to redefine the spaces of the housing estate against the background of their quite limited material surroundings. The third shows how the use of mobile phones, and the 'media space' created by them, reconstitutes and gives a new meaning to the limitations that these families face when moving through the urban environment of Santiago. As a result of these continual processes of mediation the thesis concludes that along with the physical environment of the housing estate, the spatial environments created 5 by the use of media technologies are key to the construction of 'place' to such a degree that is almost impossible to consider one without the other. They, together, are their "machines for living in"; the setting in which their everyday lives unfold. 6 Acknowledgments First and foremost I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Roger Silverstone for all his guidance and encouragement during these years. Leaving aside my sometimes grotesque spelling mistakes, he was able to guide my enquiry from the vague ideas that I had at the beginning to the thesis that you are reading now. I am also grateful to ali the people in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economies for ail their support and friendship during this period. I also want to say thank you to my proof-reader Julia Samuel, for all her patience and enthusiasm in correcting this thesis. I also wish to place on record my thanks for ali the help and support that I received in the years prior to my arrivai at LSE and whilst carrying out my fieldwork from ali the people at the Instituto de Sociologia de la Universidad Católica (ISUC) Chile. A special mention must be made of its director Eduardo Valenzuela. Without his support at the very beginning of my career as a social researcher I would not be where I am today. I am also deeply grateful to Beca Presidente de la República (President of the Republic Scholarship) administered by M IDEPLAN (Ministry of Planning) on behalf of the Chilean Government, who funded my studies in the final years. Gratitude is due to my family: my mother Rosario, my sister Rosario, my brothers Luis Fernando (Grande!) and Jose Tomas and my grandmother Rebeca. Everything I am is because of you. I make special mention of my aunt, Maria Elvira Schmidt, who without knowing me very well trusted me at a criticai stage in my life. I will always be grateful for her help. I thank all my friends: those in Chile, whom I missed deeply and who supported me from a distance, and the 'London Gang', who kept me company and provided entertainment during the last year of my studies and also my friends at Margen who (in addition to the conduct of boring virtual debates) have taken the time to read some of my research and to make constructive criticism. Finally 1 cannot finish these acknowledgments without mentioning all the members of the 20 families who reside on Tucapel Jimenez II housing estate and who constitute the main focus of this research. Their good-will and enthusiasm to particípate in my 7 research was key îo the success of the project. I hope their ideas and perceptions, their hopes and dreams are well reflected in this piece of research. 8 Introduction Going to Tucapel Jimenez II Plaza Italia is one of the important landmarks of the city of Santiago, Chile. This square, located in the city centre at the junction of three of the main boulevards of the city (Providencia, Vicuña Mackenna and Bernardo O'Higgins thoroughfares) is the obvious meeting place for all kinds of public demonstrations and rallies, to celebrate and to protest alike, and marks the frontier or the boundary between the east (the 'oriental' sector, traditionally middle and upper class) and the central and western areas of the city. Plaza Italia is the departure point for our journey. This journey will let us explore some key aspects of the everyday life of a group of 20 families who inhabite a social housing estáte called "Villa Tucapel Jimenez II", located in the Borough of Renca, in northwest Santiago. Like every other journey, a journey to Tucapel Jimenez 11 involves some sort of movement, but in this case it is not restricted to just crossing some distance in a determined period of time. It entails pausing for observation as well, as analysis and comprehension. The travelling involves more than going from one place to another, like some sort of social tourists, but also trying to observe a variety of different aspects of the everyday life of the members of these families in order to learn directly how they are adapting to their new urban environment and what is the role of media technologies in this process.