Innovative ways of city development at a local level in intermediate argentine municipalities

Abstract

In Argentina, housing policies at the local level have traditionally been oriented towards the regulation and administration of the city as well as the implementation of policies coming from the provincial and national levels. These policies have shown a strong bias locally called "viviendista", dismissing the importance of the social, economic and cultural environment where such homes are built. However, in recent years, policies that try to overcome this bias have been developed and implemented. Such is the case of the Municipality of Rio Grande which, since the year 2012, has implemented a new way of managing housing policies at the local level through an integral model. We propose to analyze Rio Grande’s Municipality housing policy between the years 2012 and 2016, specifically those targeting informal neighborhoods within the city . The methodological strategy is qualitative in nature, through semi-structured interviews with key informants and documentary and bibliographic analysis. The hypothesis argues that the model operating since 2012 is innovative as it advances in a conception that overcomes the sole housing vision, entailing a comprehensive policy and a form of associated management between the Municipality and civil society actors, thus positioning the local government as a leading actor in the construction of the city. In this way, we seek to contribute to studies on housing policy local management, specifically those related to informal neighborhoods, through a case study in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego.