Ways of Dwelling: Location, Daily Mobility and Segregated Circuits in the Urban Experience of the Modern Landscape of La Plata

Abstract

By analyzing the daily dynamics of the inhabitants of different areas (historic center, gated community and urban periphery) of La Plata, Argentina, the chapter describes and studies different ways of dwelling in this modern city, which was planned in the late nineteenth century and has been transformed by processes of population growth, urban sprawl and conurbation with the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires. While the design of the foundational plan is based on a closed and synchronous whole, the anthropological research with its inhabitants implies that urban space involves multiple temporalities and ways of dwelling that coexist in contemporary times. At the same time, the chapter shows that instead of being separated and isolated, these ways of dwelling are interconnected with each other. In fact, the everyday circuits connecting housing with work, study and leisure (among other dimensions of urban life) are segregated, but the historic center of La Plata is a common space for these circuits. Thus, the practices, feelings and meanings involved in the use of this shared space are key to understanding the inhabitants’ urban experience.