602. The Neighborhood in Question: Fragmentation and Depoliticization of Neighborhood Relations in the Neoliberal Era

Abstract

Urban public policies have widely applied what could be called a neo-ecological vision of the neighborhood, as a delimited space, disconnected from the whole and room of a cohesive community. This vision has allowed a new escalation of urban governance and it also has a central ideological role in the way we understand and organize neighborhood relations. This article argues that this conception of the neighborhood conditions it based on two strategies: fragmentation and depoliticization. Fragmentation breaks the urban totality creating watertight spaces —the neighborhoods— and encourages their organizations to compete with each other; and depoliticization empties the neighborhood organization of its capacity to construct future horizons and produce actively the city. This implies the enormous challenge of overcoming the notion of neighborhood and thus contributing to the promotion and visibilization of a more creative and transformative urban practice.