Pragmatism, Discouragement of Expectations and Governability. The Public Policies Towards Slums of Mauricio Macri Administration in the City of Buenos Aires (2007-2015)

Abstract

The two first periods of government of the Propuesta Republicana party in the city of Buenos Aires (2007-2015) entailed a set of ruptures and continuities in the policies adopted for the informal settlements of this district. The purpose of this article is to differentiate some phases within the period analyzed and to characterize them. The emphasis will be in inquiring into the ways the government of the city transformed its approach perspective to the subject and how this was strongly articulated, in consequence, with an increasing interest in having a territorial presence —institutionally as well as with political networks— in these neighborhoods. Furthermore, the importance of the growing judicialization of urban conflicts in the district will be described. This paper presents some of the partial results of the researches that are being developed by the authors for which a qualitative methodological approach was used. Semi structured interviews were made and complemented with a survey of the existing documentation produced by the different organisms of the city government.