Layers of self-construction in Latin social housing.

the set is transformed with the arrival of the favela

Abstract

Housing complexes have repeatedly been adopted as a way of responding to a wide range of housing needs in Latin American cities. The analysis of the images mobilized here highlights the mythification of these complexes as total forms, fancifully capable of meeting housing demands with stability. The myth is not sustained either by their origin in the central countries of capitalism or in their periphery, where they are produced with lower standards. Is the profusion of “puxadinhos” that tend to be produced in these complexes a sign of this insufficiency? When the favelas expand, transforming the architecture of these complexes, are we witnessing a kind of generalization of self-building that stems from an adaptive process in the face of so many desires around living? The significant number of self-built extensions, elucidated on the public production of housing estates, dealt with here through a mosaic of urban cases in Latin cities, makes us wonder about the role played by self-building in updating the form and life in these estates.