Logics of Occupation of Urban Space: A Study of Contrasting Realities. The Case of Gated Communities and Slums in Yerba Buena, Greater San Miguel de Tucumán

Abstract

From a socio-spatial perspective, one of the most important transformations that has occurred in the urban structure of Greater San Miguel de Tucumán (GSMT) since the 1970s has been the change in patterns of expansion. On this basis, the main objective of this article is to study and compare the logics of occupation of urban space through the analysis of shantytowns (VM) and gated communities (UC) in Yerba Buena Municipality (MYB), taking into account the municipality’s participation in the formation process of the GSMT agglomeration.

The study takes the 1970s as its point of departure, a period in which the city expanded strongly toward its periphery, characterized mainly by the increase in shantytowns together with the emergence of the first gated community. Urban expansion shows exponential growth in gated communities, while the area occupied by shantytowns has remained practically unchanged.

In MYB, the most significant contrast is represented by the coexistence of gated communities and shantytowns. Gated communities are a rapidly growing trend and drive expansion by occupying large extensions of land. By contrast, the increase in shantytowns is limited, especially considering their proliferation in the rest of GSMT. Nevertheless, many of these gated communities and shantytowns are located very close to one another, while the socioeconomic distance separating their inhabitants continues to widen, accentuating the gap between both groups.