Abstract

BLANCO RAMOS, Roberto Antonio  and  PORRAS RAMIREZ, Jefferson Eduardo. "You are not complete if you do not have your own house": Access to housing in the Metropolitan Area of San José: Middle classes and tugurización (1950-2011). Diálogos rev. electr. hist [online]. 2018, vol.19, n.1, pp.1-14. ISSN 1409-469X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/dre.v19i1.28225.

The following article analyzes the historical process of access to housing in the Metropolitan Area of San José, carried out by the middle and popular sectors, in the period 1950-2011. It is based on the hypothesis that both the State and the private initiative (real estate) had an impact on the formation of socio-spatial segregation when designing various housing plans. The study began in the 1950s due to changes occurring at the urban and state levels, such as the following: the creation of an entity that regulates urbanization processes (National Institute of Housing and Urbanism), the formation and intervention of tugurization, and the emergence of residential spaces for the settlement of the middle classes. The analysis ends in the year 2011 because of the gradual emergence of so-called "closed communities" from the 2000s, which reflect another logic of socio-spatial fragmentation. Methodologically, two phases were considered: one referring to a descriptive analysis performed on primary sources. The second one was worked from an oral history approach, through semi structured interviews, made to real estate owners, civil engineers and architects who worked in the period.

Keywords : Socio-spatial segregation; Informal settlements; housing; urbanization; middle classes; popular sectors; Metropolitan Area of San José.

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