Camila Coci帽a

Camila is an architect, MSc Building & Urban Design in Development, and PhD Development Planning.

狈补迟颈辞苍补濒颈迟测:听Chilean

Year of entry:听2012

Background

Camila is an urbanist and architect, PhD Development Planning and听MSc Building & Urban Design in Development from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, 果冻影院. She is currently Teaching Fellow at DPU, and co-coordinates the DPU summerLab.听

She has worked as a practitioner, researcher and teacher in Chile and the UK, with experience of fieldwork, research and teaching in different countries and regions, in issues related to urban development, housing policies, participatory urban design and reconstruction.

She has been editor of EURE Journal, and director of independent projects as Cientodiez Magazine. She is part of the board of Red de Estudios para la Profundizaci贸n Democr谩tica. Camila was a founding partner of NGO Reconstruye in Chile, developing projects of housing and reconstruction recognised by the Dubai government and UN Habitat award as one of the 100 Best Practices in 2012.听 Her PhD research was about the challenges of housing policy in reducing urban inequalities and increasing social justice, in the Chilean context.

Research information: Title:
Housing as Urbanism: The role of Housing听Policies in Reducing Urban Inequalities.听A study of post 2006 Housing Programmes in Puente Alto, Chile

Keywords: Housing, Inequality, Chile, Policy.

Abstract:
This thesis explores the role that听housing听policies have in reducing inequalities through the production of cities. It emerges from intellectual and political concerns: historically the success of听housing听policies has been mainly measured by quantitative achievements and has been linked to poverty alleviation. But as poverty becomes a rather multidimensional concept, aspects of inequality become important. Politically, studying听housing听policies in Chile just in terms of their relationship with poverty could be not just reductionist, but even potentially harmful: for thirty years, Chile has had financially effective听housing听policies, with poverty reduction and quantitative achievements considered widely successful, and yet levels of inequality remain stagnant and the lives of those who inhabit the products of these policies seem to be full of injustice.
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To explore these issues, this research first discusses its normative positions regarding the definition of inequalities reduction as the object of a social policy. Then a series of theoretical debates on inequality, space and听housing听are presented, developing a framework of analysis and proposing a series of conceptual bridges between听housing听and inequalities, defining 鈥�housing听as听urbanism鈥� and recognising its condition as an economic, social and political device.听
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Empirical work was conducted in Bajos de Mena, a peripheral territory of Santiago, Chile, examining two post-2006听housing听programmes that have attempted to decrease urban inequalities, and exploring the extent to which they are actually contributing to tackling the problem of inequality. The main challenges identified are summarised under five themes: institutional order, sectorial agendas, fragmentation and targeting; individual choices vs. collective processes; clientelism and dependency; design as a transformative tool; and the problem of scale, i.e. land policy and citywide processes. Through researching another two urban programmes in the area, existing institutional efforts addressing the challenges identified are explored, leading to the conclusion that urban programmes involve important attempts that need to be in conversation with traditional听housing听programmes in order to achieve their potential.
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This thesis aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the consequences of听housing听policies in a complex territory. The main argument is that听housing听policies can play a role in reducing multiple inequalities, but to do so听housing听must be understood as听urbanism, as a multiple-scales process with agency at the economic, social and political level. In discussing this argument, this research also attempts to contribute to the discipline of听urbanism. Establishing stronger links between听housing听and inequality, it seeks to open up new spaces for solidarities within the urban scale, exploring their translation into policy challenges, and the potentials of听urbanism听to articulate policies at different scales.
Publications and other work: Review publications at :
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Selected publications:

Coci帽a, C. (forthcoming). 鈥淯rban Universalism: the debts of housing in the context of targeting policies鈥�, in Boano, C. and Vergara, F. (Eds) Neoliberalism and Urban Development in Latin America: The Case of Santiago. London: Routledge.

Coci帽a, C. and L贸pez-Morales, E. (2017). 鈥淯npacking narratives of social conflict and inclusion in two neighbourhoods of Santiago, Chile鈥�, in Rokem J. and Boano, C. (Eds), Rethinking Planning and Urban Geopolitics in Contested Cities. London: Rutledge, pp.171-188.

Coci帽a, C. (2016). 鈥淗abitar desigualdades: Pol铆ticas urbanas y el despliegue de la vida en Bajos de Mena鈥�, Serie documentos de trabajo PNUD鈥� Desigualdad No. 2016/05, Septiembre 2016. PNUD: Santiago.

Coci帽a, C. (2016). 鈥淐iudades informales: sistemas, normas y el dise帽o como pregunta鈥�, in Arquitectura Ahora #9.

Coci帽a, C. and Salazar, D. (2016). Imagining through design: collective learning in Mostar. In DPU summerLab, 2015 series, 36-39.

Coci帽a, C. and Boano, C. (2013). 鈥淗ousing and Reconstruction in Chile (2010-2012). Institutional and social transformation in post-disaster context鈥�, International Journal of Architectural Research, 7(3), 57-59 Available at:

Coci帽a, C. (2012). Cinco escenas y un relato: profundizaci贸n democr谩tica en la ciudad de los consensos, Revista Materia No.6, Chile, 64-75.

Coci帽a, C. (2012). Demoliendo una pol铆tica de vivienda que consolida la desigualdad [Series of 5 articles] CIPER Chile [Online] Available at

Coci帽a, C. (2010). 鈥業deolog铆a y reconstrucci贸n 2010: Levantar ciudades y ciudadan铆as鈥�, in Cat谩logo XVII Bienal de Arquitectura, Chile: Reconstrucci贸n, pp 52-65.

Coci帽a, C.; Quintana, F. and Valenzuela, N. (2010). La burbuja que no revienta. Arquitectura p煤blica en Chile. Revista Arquine,听N. 53, M茅xico, 93-96.

Coci帽a, C.; Quintana, F. and Valenzuela, N. (Eds, 2009). Agenda P煤blica: Arquitectura, Ciudad y Desarrollo. Santiago: Cientodiez.

Coci帽a, C. and Valenzuela, N. (2007). Esc贸ndete Arquitecto, Revista CA, N. 129, Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile, 42-43.

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