359.4
The Struggle for the Public SPACE in the Historical Center of Latinamerican Cities. the Case of Mexico City and Sao Paulo

Monday, July 14, 2014: 4:15 PM
Room: 311+312
Oral Presentation
Carlos ALBA VEGA , Centro de Estudios Internacionales, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico, Mexico
Carlos FREIRE , Universidade Sao Paulo, Brazil
The struggle of the public space in the historical center of Latin-American cities. The case of Mexico city and Sao Paulo

The expansion of the street hawkers in many cities of the emerging countries is the last link of a legal and illegal commodities value chain coming from Asia through the "globalization from below". Informal economies have multiplied and internationalized as a result of local, national and global political, economical and social interactions: economic liberalization and crisis, demographic growth and migration, social  inequality, poverty and unemployment.

Low income population has adapted to these changes by creating survival jobs as local distributors of global production. However, these activities are in conflict with many local and national laws, and confront governmental and private interests set upon the "renewal of the historical centers".

These paper aims to analyze the corporatist and clientelist relationship between the hawker's organizations and the government as well as the use of tolerance and repression tactics from the local authorities regarding the use of public spaces in the center of the cities.