La representación urbanística de los espacios informales. El caso de las villas miseria porteñas

Abstract

In this article we aim to redefine the notion of informal space through the analysis of their cartographic representations as produced by urban planners. To this end we undertake a historical review of three key planning episodes of Buenos Aires developed during the post-war period. Rather than delving into the content or context of plans and maps, we focus on the effects of transparency they produce, to show how technical knowledge and political objectives are mutually structured, stabilizing and naturalizing, in this process, a specific epistemology of informal spaces. Beyond empiric legal and sociological definitions, informal spaces are a specific type of heterotopia that, filtered by the modernist normativity, can be explained by notions such as the transitory, the omitted and the prospective. The article contributes not only to critical theory discussions about urban planning practice, but also to the analytical frameworks of Urban Studies and urban informality.