Peripheral urbanization: Autoconstruction, transversal logics, and politics in cities of the global south

• Published in: Environment and planning. D, Society & space Society & space, 2017-02, Vol.35 (1), p.3-20
• Main Author: Caldeira, Teresa PR
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0263-7758; 1472-3433
• DOI: 10.1177/0263775816658479

Many cities around the world have been largely constructed by their residents, who build not only their own houses, but also frequently their neighborhoods. In this article, I use the notion of peripheral urbanization to analyze this way of producing cities that is quite pervasive in the global south. I argue that peripheral urbanization refers to modes of the production of space that (a) operate with a specific temporality and agency, (b) engage transversally with official logics, (c) generate new modes of politics, and (d) create highly unequal and heterogeneous cities. I also argue that peripheral urbanization not only produces heterogeneity within the city as it unfolds over time, but also varies considerably from one city to another. I build my arguments by juxtaposing dissimilar cases from a few cities in the global south. To focus on peripheral urbanization means simultaneously to de-center urban theory and to offer a bold characterization of modes of the production of space that are different from those that generated the cities of the North Atlantic.