Social Housing within Public–Private Development: The Advances and Limitations of Housing Policy in the Urban Entrepreneurialism of Buenos Aires

Abstract

Large-scale urban development projects in Latin America are known for exacerbating patterns of urban segregation, in contexts where housing has long been market-oriented and inclusive initiatives such as social housing have been neglected. The ‘Barrio Parque Donado-Holmberg’ in Buenos Aires represented – after highly contested disputes – a partial break in this regard. Located in an area that had faced decades of decline, with a low-income population living in precarious conditions, this project was presented as a ‘self-financing’ public–private development with a social mix policy that would integrate the community already living there. Although the housing policy included options that allowed people to remain in place, other options implied the displacement of the population. Additionally, the disparities between public and private implementation, as well as rising land value, call into question the inclusiveness of the project. Therefore, the complex and contradictory outcomes highlight the tensions in implementing housing policies under the logic of urban entrepreneurialism.