Owners and users: An approach to ways of living in northeast Montevideo

Abstract

Reflecting on the categories of owners and users and the way these categories influenced (or not) livelihoods, this paper questions how values affect the planning and implementation of communal living. The focus is on the "value" of living in some places, the appropriation made by those who live there (or do not), as well as the organizational processes that are necessary to achieve basic services and then "be part" of the city, beyond private property. The importance of individual property is linked to a scheme of valuation that is supported by public policy, and that permeates most actions in contemporary society. From the experience of neighbourhood organizations inside informal settlements and housing cooperatives in the northeast of Montevideo, the paper focuses on what is important to people. Many struggle everyday to promote a better life for people who live there, trying to improve the quality of life. Interesting solidarity experiences have been carried out to improve it, but people often seem not to care about property.