The relatively rapid and poorly regulated processes of urbanization in Latin America - linked in Colombia's case to violent processes of rural displacement - have left behind gaping structures of socio-spatial segregation. The historical class dimensions of such an inequitable development process can be well illustrated via an analysis of the marked differences between conceptions, uses, and representations of space in the inner-city of Medellin. This dissertation looks at the struggles over public space use in Medellin, ...
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The relatively rapid and poorly regulated processes of urbanization in Latin America - linked in Colombia's case to violent processes of rural displacement - have left behind gaping structures of socio-spatial segregation. The historical class dimensions of such an inequitable development process can be well illustrated via an analysis of the marked differences between conceptions, uses, and representations of space in the inner-city of Medellin. This dissertation looks at the struggles over public space use in Medellin, caught between conflicting logics: politicians who "order" space in a lineal fashion ideal for consumption and capital investment; criminal elements that look to impose their rule on space via coercion, extortion, and contraband activity; and the mass population of informal street vendors who use space "actively" to subvert their socio-economic and political exclusion from their city. These differences become prime examples of the multifaceted nature of city developmen
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