“Ninguna ciudad común: Lo que la teoría urbana crítica puede aprender de La Paz (Bolivia) (2018)” [No Ordinary City: What Critical Urban Theory Can Learn from La Paz (Bolivia)] by Kate Maclean

Abstract: “This article explores how the city of La Paz has changed in the wake of the emergence of the “chola bourgeoisie” in Bolivia – people who work largely in informal commerce and who have been particularly benefited by the tripling of Bolivia’s GDP over the last ten years. The increase in wealth in the well-established informal markets in La Paz has been such that families whose residence and livelihoods are based in marginalized areas of the city are now investing in property in the upscale ‘Zona Sur’ neighborhood. This case study can be read as an example of the global phenomenon of gentrification, although it requires a strong empirical grounding in local constructions of class, race and poverty. However, I argue that a deeper critique of the theories used to analyze urban change is necessary to capture the political, economic and cultural complexities of recent changes in La Paz.”

 

The article is available, in Spanish, at Birkbeck.

 

Photo: Boris G (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

ANO

2018

AUTORES

Kate Maclean

EDITORES

Journal de Comunicación Social