Unlikely Inter-Class Cooperation in Urbanizing Rural Colombia

Sebastián F. Villamizar Santamaría — 2020-02-25T06:00:00Z

Sebastián F. Villamizar Santamaría examines a case of rural gentrification outside of Bogotá, Colombia, and shows how long-time peasants and former factory workers and upper-middle-class newcomers collaborate across class lines to manage fundamental resources, such as water, and pressure the state to provide necessary infrastructure and services.
“A new neighbor welcomes you; your neighbor, nature,” claims a billboard on the road between La Calera, a small town, and Bogotá, the Colombian

- From the Field / Colombia, Latin America, Global South, South America, rural, Bogotá, gentrification, rural gentrification, urbanization, suburbanization, rururbanization, water, urban public service, urban services, urban technical networks, utilities, infrastructure, social class, networks, water access

Repositioning the state's role through water politics in Mexico City's informal settlements

Guillem Ramírez Chico — 2018-03-27T05:00:00Z

Throughout the Mexico City metropolitan area, the struggle for water access often defines the relationship (or lack thereof) between municipal governments and residents. Guillem Ramirez Chico delineates the distinctive local politics of water provision in three of the area's informal settlements, asserting that poor households are frequently left vulnerable in the name of environmental conservation.
In Mexico City, water is used as a political tool to get political support, through client

- From the Field / local government, water, settlements, state, informality, Mexico, informal housing, water access, water politics, informal settlements, state-free spaces, Mexico City

Metropolitics

Unlikely Inter-Class Cooperation in Urbanizing Rural Colombia

Repositioning the state's role through water politics in Mexico City's informal settlements