Intervention Policies

Government responses to informal and precarious settlements in Latin America generally oscillated between tolerance and repression, until around the 1980s, when legal frameworks and programs aimed at improving living conditions in these areas began to emerge, in line with the international debate promoted by multilateral organizations.

In Latin America, this change of attitude took place in the context of the restoration and/or deepening of democracy, with greater citizen participation in the political sphere, combined with the important role played by the Catholic Church, especially through the current of thought known as “liberation theology”.

Despite this general dynamic, the trajectory of the policies in each of the cities analyzed here (Buenos Aires, Medellin and Sao Paulo) is quite heterogeneous in terms of institutional arrangements, approaches and timing.

Os programas em Medellín e Buenos Aires, por exemplo, a partir dos anos 1980 e 1990, estavam respaldados por um conjunto de marcos legais superior ao encontrado para o caso de São Paulo, embora tais marcos legais não tenham sido garantia de implementação e efetividade desses programas, no caso de Buenos Aires.

Já em São Paulo e Medellín, na década de 1990, ocorreram importantes avanços que culminaram num ganho de escala em termos de recursos, intervenções e complexidade das obras após os anos 2000.

Em Buenos Aires, esse ganho de escala só ocorreu após meados dos anos 2010, sendo o alinhamento político e institucional entre diferentes escalas de governo, uma variável importante para esse aspecto. A somatória de recursos das três esferas de governo entre 2007 e 2014 também foi essencial para o ganho de escala em São Paulo.

For example, the programs in Medellin and Buenos Aires in the 1980s and 1990s were supported by a set of legal frameworks that were superior to those in the case of Sao Paulo, although in the case of Buenos Aires these legal frameworks did not guarantee the implementation and effectiveness of these programs.

In Sao Paulo and Medellin, important advances were made in the 1990s, which culminated in an increase in scale in terms of resources, interventions and complexity of works after the 2000s.

In Buenos Aires, this gain in scale occurred only after the mid-2000s, with political and institutional coordination between different levels of government being an important variable in this regard. The sum of resources from the three levels of government between 2007 and 2014 was also essential for a renewed gain in scale in Sao Paulo.

However, in order to fully understand this increase in scale in the three cities studied, it is essential to observe the social and political movements that have emerged as a result of the actions and discussions led by the residents of favelas, villas and barrios populares and the groups associated with them in each of these cities.

The analysis of the trajectories of policies for the upgrading or improvement of precarious popular settlements, in its singularity and in a comparative way, reaffirms the importance and weight of this type of policy in the transformation of the Latin American reality and allows us to glimpse the directions for its improvement.

The example of Medellin is very instructive in this regard, but not only because of the quality of the urban design and public spaces built in the outskirts of the city, especially between 2004 and 2015, as is often pointed out. Other aspects stand out in the trajectory of public policies for informal settlements in this city: the investments in infrastructure and services made by the Empresas Públicas de Medellin (Public Companies of Medellin) since the 1960s, the early recognition of community organizations as promoters of self-management of public resources, and the uninterrupted participatory budgeting since the early 2000s.

Access the timelines of public policies for precarious popular settlements

SAO PAULO, brazil

1980s

Eviction or upgrading?

The policies for the favelas in Sao Paulo were initially characterized by the removal or eviction of the most valuable areas of the city.

In the 1980s, this type of action began to be combined with specific improvement actions (mainly water and electricity supply and, in some cases, the construction of minimum housing through community self-help, known as mutirão).

This change in the government’s attitude reflects, on the one hand, resistance and pressure from movements and organizations linked to the favelas and, on the other hand, a change in the international paradigm and the circulation of ideas in favor of “slum upgrading”.

1990s

Redemocratization and upgrading as a priority

However, it was not until the 1990s, under the new Federal Constitution of 1988, that the upgrading of favelas was considered a public policy solution for the entire municipality.

This change of direction occurred under the administration of a leftist mayor, Luiza Erundina. After her term, all subsequent municipal administrations had slum upgrading policies, although the content of these policies differed in terms of both physical intervention and openness to community participation.

2000s

Increased investments

Since the mid-2000s, this type of policy has reached a larger scale, due to the availability of resources from different government sectors and the expertise accumulated over a decade.

Since 2013, however, it has become less important, although it has not disappeared from the political agenda of municipal governments.

TIMELINE OF POLICIES IN SAO PAULO

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

1980s AND 1990s

“Radication Law” and limited improvements

In Buenos Aires, the eradication of the villas, with the replacement of the dwellings in temporary housing centers or the simple eviction without offering any alternative, was the predominant government action until 1984, when Law 39,753, known as the “Radication Law”, was passed after the end of Argentina’s last and most violent military dictatorship, which was responsible for reducing the population of the villas by more than 90%.

The Radication Law was the first step towards institutionalizing the idea of radication (the right to remain), which had been defended by the Peronist Villero Movement and the villa residents’ committees since the 1970s.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, despite the existence of programs and legal frameworks for the “re-urbanization” of villas and temporary housing, only limited improvement actions were carried out.

2000s

First “re-urbanization” specific laws

Since the 2000s, specific laws have been passed ordering the “re-urbanization” of certain villas, a great achievement for the villera movements and organizations.

But they were not really implemented.

2010s

Resistance and advocacy

The negligence of the government, especially the municipal government, in “reurbanizing” the villas culminated in two major occupations, one in 2010 in the Parque Indoamericano and another in 2014 near Villa 20, which were violently repressed but were essential to change the government’s stance.

Since then, several programs and institutions have been created and specific laws have been passed that call for the integral reurbanization of the villas, NHTs and NAUs in the federal capital.

TIMELINE OF POLICIES IN BUENOS AIRES

MEDELLIN, Colombia

1950s AND 1960s

Juntas de Ação Comunitária (Community Action Boards) and access to services

In the self-built neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, community organization and the work of the Catholic Church have promoted significant improvements through convites, community self-help events to pave streets, establish or improve infrastructure, and build facilities such as schools and community centers.

In Colombia, Juntas de Acción Comunitaria (JACs) were created by law in 1958, allowing community associations to raise public funds to build infrastructure and implement social programs in their neighborhoods, even if they were not yet regularized.

1980s AND 1990s

Improving neighborhoods

Although neighborhood upgrading programs did not emerge until the 1980s and 1990s, unlike in Sao Paulo and even more so in Buenos Aires, Empresas Públicas de Medellin, the state-owned company in charge of providing water, sanitation, energy, and other services to the city, has been investing in informal settlements since the 1960s.

As in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, the policy of removing tugurios (precarious and improvised housing) has been more ruthless in the more expensive areas of the city.

2000s

Social participation against violence and for transformation

In the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia and Medellin saw a series of political changes toward popular participation in politics and the inclusion of programs to improve popular neighborhoods in city planning. However, these decades were also decades of escalating violence in the city, which ultimately limited the transformation of these areas.

Beginning in 2004, the city government adopted these neighborhoods as a priority for public investment, taking advantage of the transformation brought about by the expansion of the metro through the installation of cable cars in these areas. Interventions began to focus on the improvement of public spaces and the installation of educational, cultural and sports facilities.