Informal housing in Caracas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Informal housing in Caracas - Essay Example 552). The processes of globalization have generated a distinct pattern of spatial urban organization that is typified by people’s segregation in the extension informal settlements. Urban restructuring has led to rising metropolitan fragmentation and increased socio-territorial inequality (Peters, 2008, p. 1). This paper explains the way globalization has changed the production of housing in Caracas. In spite of being located in the most urbanized and the wealthiest country of Latin America, Caracas accommodates numerous rancho settlements that are distributed all across the city. These settlements are characterized by invasions of squatter land. Disinvolvement of the government has perpetuated self-help housing techniques in Caracas. The aspects of informal housing in Caracas discussed in this paper include regulation of informal housing, housing production, exchange and consumption in the barrios of Caracas, the influence of globalization on housing, and the role of different actors in the developmental process. Informal housing in Caracas is quite politicized, with the demand exceeding the supply. Commodity forms dominate the production, exchange, and consumption of the informal settlements in Caracas. Globalization caused political and economic restructuring thus altering the metropolis’s fabric. Slum upgrading and microcredit are some of the factors that have played a role in the development of housing in Caracas. The mobilized and generated type of squatting is the most common in Latin America. Development of the informal housing in Latin America engages the political organizations. The state is somehow involved in the process. Informal housing in Latin America is quite politicized. The squatter communities are collectively involved in the process of settlement development and shelter acquisition. Such