Social housing in ecuador: Territorial violence, contestations, and peripheral urban space production

Abstract

Social housing production was one of the emblems of the Ecuadorian policy of the “Citizen Revolution” chaired by Rafael Correa for 10 years. From the case of Ecuador, it is analyzed how progressive governments applied policies in the field of social housing and urban development. This article tracks the scales of application these social policies had regarding neoliberalism, from the point of view of the violence and responses that the process provoked. In Quito, families organized to obtain the promised homes after years of waiting. In Guayaquil, police violence displaced entire neighborhoods to achieve urban renewal through an ecological plan. In Portoviejo, from the earthquake of 2016, the center was converted, and the houses were moved to the periphery. From an historic, spatial, and qualitative methodology, this analysis shows the limitations of the proposals of the progressive governments, and the popular organization to avoid displacement towards the peripheries.