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Locating Party Politics and Grassroots Activism in Participatory Slum Upgrading: Insights from Buenos Aires, Argentina

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  • Joaquin Andres Benitez

Abstract

Literature on participatory slum upgrading often simplifies the political landscape of informal settlements, portraying them as homogeneous communities, and focuses instead on infrastructure, housing, tenure regularization, participatory design and project implementation. However, many informal settlements across the Global South are sites of territorialized party politics competing for community leadership and support. This article analyses the case of the highly contested upgrading programme of Playón de Chacarita, an informal settlement in Buenos Aires. Drawing on qualitative research methods, the study unpacks the political, social and economic divisions arising from the territorialization of politics and analyses their impact on the implementation of an upgrading programme. It advances current debate by showing how politics and policies mesh in the upgrading programme in messy and complex ways, with residents joining participatory meetings and clashing with public officials, but also fighting among themselves. This research explores how territorialized party politics can create profound communal divisions, exacerbate conflicts and threaten project execution while, paradoxically, improving intervention outcomes, advancing housing rights and sustaining community activism, especially in the face of a lack of participatory institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Joaquin Andres Benitez, 2026. "Locating Party Politics and Grassroots Activism in Participatory Slum Upgrading: Insights from Buenos Aires, Argentina," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 57(2), pages 231-260, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:57:y:2026:i:2:p:231-260
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.70046
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Auerbach, Adam Michael & Thachil, Tariq, 2018. "How Clients Select Brokers: Competition and Choice in India's Slums," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 112(4), pages 775-791, November.
    2. Nicola Banks & Melanie Lombard & Diana Mitlin, 2020. "Urban Informality as a Site of Critical Analysis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 223-238, February.
    3. Lucrecia Bertelli, 2021. "What kind of global city? Circulating policies for ‘slum’ upgrading in the making of world-class Buenos Aires," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1293-1313, September.
    4. Bertelli, Lucrecia, 2021. "What kind of global city? Circulating policies for ‘slum’ upgrading in the making of world-class Buenos Aires," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109311, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Ivo Imparato & Jeff Ruster, 2003. "Slum Upgrading and Participation : Lessons from Latin America," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15133, April.
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