Latin American Migration, Residential Patterns, and Social Cohesion in Argentina Cities

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the role of Latin American migrants as actors and agents of the territorial transformation of cities in the era of globalization, taking into account both theory and empiric evidence, following studies done in Argentine cities. International migrants contribute to the formation of neighborhoods, define models in the ethnic economies, and adopt cultural and identity strategies for visualization at public spaces. Particularly, in this chapter the conformation and dynamics of residential areas of Bolivian and Chilean migrants are analyzed, in particular, at the metropolis of Buenos Aires and at two intermediate cities in the Argentine Patagonia: Puerto Madryn (Province of Chubut) and San Carlos de Bariloche (Province of Rio Negro). In each of the cases, we propose to go deep into the conditioning factors of these urban transformations: the formation of neighborhoods, all as ex novo settlements, characterized by their own mechanisms for the appropriation of space, generally in the impoverished suburbs of popular habitat. There are evidences of the same process of gestation, as migrants’ residential choices are accompanied by logics for the access to housing, the relationships with employment, and the conditions of daily travel and accessibility, both toward and out of their residences. Particularly, it is relevant how they contribute to the building process of the neighborhood because they have a strong sense of solidarity intracommunitary. That social cohesion is related to the transnationalism relationships, which imply the new profile of the postmodern migrant that reacts to the dynamic of globalization with high flexibility and shape the landscape of the city.

This chapter is based on the results of several projects directed by the author: PIP CONICET 5879-2005 GI (2006–2009) “Migrants and Urban spaces in Argentina: between segregation and integration” (Migrantes y territorios urbanos en la Argentina: entre la segregación y la integración); PIP CONICET 658–2009 GI (2010–2013) “International migration in Argentine cities: Places, spaces and identities in the era of globalization” (Migración internacional en ciudades de la Argentina: Lugares, territorios e identidades en la era de la globalización); and the other,UNPSJB Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco: PI 599 (2007–2009): “Migrations, Ethnicity and Space. Puerto Madryn and Trelew: towards the dialogue of interculturality” (Migraciones, Etnicidad y Territorio. Puerto Madryn y Trelew: hacia el diálogo de la interculturalidad); and PI 913 (2011–2014) “Migrations, Ethnicity and Space. Puerto Madryn, Trelew, Rawson: towards the dialogue of interculturality- Phase II (Migraciones, Etnicidad y Territorio. Puerto Madry-Trelew-Rawson: hacia el diálogo de la interculturalidad- Fase II).