Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v10i1.4748
Exports for your reference manager
On the Fringes of Urban Justice: Violence and Environmental Risks in Guatemala City
[journal article]
Abstract Living in the city's ravines is the common destiny of thousands of poor urban dwellers in Guatemala City, as is too often the case elsewhere in the Global South. The ravines surrounding the city represent one of the most visible and unjust urban spaces in the nation’s capital. At the same time, Guat... view more
Living in the city's ravines is the common destiny of thousands of poor urban dwellers in Guatemala City, as is too often the case elsewhere in the Global South. The ravines surrounding the city represent one of the most visible and unjust urban spaces in the nation’s capital. At the same time, Guatemala City has been among the most violent cities in the world and is highly vulnerable to climate change. Employing a critical spatial perspective and drawing on interviews in two at‐risk communities - Arzú and 5 de Noviembre - this article examines the social production of such peripheral spaces. The levels of exclusion and inequalities are analysed by focusing on the multiple manifestations (visible and invisible) of violence and environmental risks, and deciphering the complex dynamics of both issues, which in turn generate more unequal and harmful conditions for residents. This article draws on the theoretical ideas elaborated by Edward Soja, Mustafa Dikeç, and Teresa Caldeira on the contextualisation of spatial injustice and peripheral urbanisation to study the specific conditions of urban life and analyse the collective struggles of people in both communities to improve their current living conditions and mitigate the risk and the precariousness of their existence. The article underlines the need to make the processes of urban exclusion and extreme inequality visible to better understand how they have been socially and politically constructed. The research argues for more socially and ecologically inclusive cities within the process of unequal urbanisation.... view less
Keywords
Guatemala; urban population; exclusion; inequality; violence; Latin America
Classification
Sociology of Settlements and Housing, Urban Sociology
Free Keywords
Guatemala City; environmental risks; insecurity; precarious settlements; spatial injustice; urban segregation
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 58-71
Journal
Social Inclusion, 10 (2022) 1
Issue topic
Recent Trends in Inequality and Exclusion in Latin America
ISSN
2183-2803
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed