De la periferia y el periurbano al margen: comprendiendo el espacio de expansión de la ciudad latinoamericana

Abstract

Los trabajos sobre el espacio de expansión de las ciudades latinoamericanas toman principalmente las reflexiones teórico-metodológicas surgidas en otros contextos socio-espaciales. No obstante, recientemente surge un llamado desde los estudios urbanos postcoloniales a abrirse a entender la producción espacial desde el contexto del Sur Global. Considerando lo anterior, se presenta una propuesta teórica-metodológica alternativa que podría evidenciar la producción de un espacio no reconocido por las categorías predominantes en la literatura. En términos teóricos, los espacios diferenciados podrían ser interpretados desde el margen, entendido como un espacio localizado fuera de la totalidad preexistente, por lo que permite la producción de nuevas formas espaciales. En términos de método, se propone un razonamiento dialéctico analógico para identificar las semejanzas y diferencias entre el espacio de expansión y las categorías predominantes utilizadas para interpretarlo. Para lograr lo anterior, se estudia el espacio geográfico desde una perspectiva que integre sus dimensiones físicas y sociales. Finalmente, la metodología se presenta tomando como casos a la ciudad de Santiago en Chile, y Morelia en México.

A critical organizational history of city margins in the Global South

“…Organizing the margins/center of the city of Fortaleza: ruins/progress as a critical, philosophical-historical nexus Historical practices work as clues, constructing meaning around their consequences (Certeau, 1988). Thus we tend to regard the beginning of history as being on the margins, and that practices maintain a mutual relationship between the margins and the center (Das and Poole, 2004;Robles et al, 2021;Gururani and Loraine, 2021;Ren, 2021). On the other hand, what determines the space between practice and historical writing is the report of a tactical relationship with something that cannot have a place in history.…”

“…The concept of the margin has been understood from the vantage point of critical studies (Spivak, 2010), as well as from philosophy (Derrida, 1994), as a spatial dimension that can be used to question the categories that structure the pre-existing system from which they are excluded. In urban studies literature, margins of cities are understood as spaces situated outside the pre-existing totality, thus they enable reflection of new processes of spatial organization (Robles et al ., 2021; Gururani and Loraine, 2021; Ren, 2021). In the Latin American sphere, as a conceptual category, the margin has been applied in works such as that of Velázquez (2007), Souza (2003) and Cerqueira (2018), who use the concept to recognize the production of singular specialties through the study of space according to its own social, cultural, political and historical content.…”

“…In this context, the organization of these urban processes of marginalization is based on different histories of exception. As the dominant paradigm of government in contemporary politics, the state of exception rests on an ambiguous and uncertain boundary between politics and public law, presenting obvious analogies with the right of resistance (Agamben, 2003; Das and Poole, 2004; Wacquant, 2014; Robles et al ., 2021; Gururani and Loraine, 2021; Ren, 2021).…”

“…The margins of cities are spaces of refined differentiation which do not coincide with national or urban borders and are present in the ghettos and enclaves of North America and Western Europe as well as in the slums of Latin America or Asia (Miraftab and Kudva, 2015). The organization of margins in relation to urban centers should not be defined solely based on normative guidelines, as the production of margins is intrinsically linked to the relational, economic and historical context (Das and Poole, 2004; Wacquant, 2014; Robles et al ., 2021; Gururani and Loraine, 2021; Ren, 2021).…”

“…Nevertheless, in the field of critical urban studies, authors such as Brenner (2016) and Roy (2015) argue that urban theory should be based on history as a fundamental constitutive process for deconstruction in terms of generalization and theorization, even in the context of Latin American cities (Robles et al ., 2021). In this light, the present study follows the “Critical Organizational History” (COH) approach, with its roots in a diverse set of philosophical perspectives for which the question of “denaturalization” posed by Fournier and Gray (2000) is a central aspect for a critical theorization of the rewriting of history, that is: “[…] starting points are not natural or given but constructs effected culturally and sedimented through time” (Durepos et al ., 2019, p. 8).…”