Urban Conflicts As Spaces of Politicization of Collective Action Around the City: Notes to Think the Continuities and Discontinuities of Urban Social Movements in the City of Santiago (Chile)

Over the last 40 years the city of Santiago has experienced deep transformations, which have been linked to the implementation of neoliberal policies. Also, the city has been not only the stage, but rather the protagonist of a variety of conflicts around urban issues, such as urban growth, use and appropriation of urban spaces, environmental, demand for housing. This has been the scenario in which old and new forms of collective actions have emerged to propose new forms of appropriation and use of urban spaces, transforming the urban space into an object of political action

In this context, this paper aims to study the processes of politicization and depoliticization that have been developed in these frameworks of action, understanding that the politicization goes beyond the  mere mobilization and involves the generation of new spaces for the production of reality, in this case realities and socio-political imaginaries around the design, management, use and appropriation of urban space and urban goods. However, preliminary data analysis on urban conflicts in the city of Santiago suggest that not all collective actions around urban issues develop the same levels and types of politicization. Therefore, in this paper I will try to address the following question: what are the factors that can explain the trajectories of the process of politicization or depoliticization of collective action around urban issues? To answer this question I will study the collective actions that have been developed around the problems of access to housing, inquiring into its politicization paths from the mechanisms and strategies that develop as part of their urban struggles (configuration of their social networks, identity, organizational structure and action strategies). Finally, I will try establish the relationship between the processes of politicization and the construction of imaginaries and collective discourses around the city and urban issues.