COVID-19 in real time: comparing the struggle of three low-income neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires. (April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cohen, Michael; Gutman, Margarita; Díaz, Matias Ruiz; Fodde, María Belén; Cabrera, Cecilia; Doldan, Bárbara Mora; Díaz, Carolina
• Is Part Of: Environment and urbanization. Volume 34:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 209
• Page End: 228
• Publication Date: 2022-04
• Subjects: Buenos Aires -- collective efficacy -- COVID-19 -- local organisations -- participation -- popular neighbourhoods; Urban ecology (Sociology) -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Sociology, Urban -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Urbanization -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; 304.205
• DOI: 10.1177/09562478211060687
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0956-2478

Abstract

This article seeks to explain why some popular neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires have responded more effectively than others to COVID-19. It compares actions that took place between March and October 2020 in the neighbourhoods of Villa 20, Villa 15 and Villa 1-11-14. We analyse public policies carried out by government agencies, especially the Instituto de Vivienda de la Ciudad (IVC) and the Ministerio de Desarrollo Humano y Hábitat (MDHyH), and the active collaboration of local organisations. While significant scholarship has focused on COVID-19 effects and coping strategies in Latin American neighbourhoods, there is limited analysis of how pre-existing relationships between local actors and government agencies have shaped neighbourhood responses. This comparative analysis shows that in fact the consolidation and depth of historical working relations between local government and local organisations determined the response capacity of each informal neighbourhood.