The political dimension of architecture

Abstract

Justin McGuirk analyzes the causes for the world interest in Latin American town planning and details the reasons that took him to research a new type of architecture, “activist architecture”. He emphasizes the social dimension of professionals like Alejandro Aravena, Urban Think Tank, Jorge Mario Jáuregui and Teddy Cruz, and stops to give details of the historic referents that sustain such dimension: the work of John Turner on the Peruvian neighbourhoods, the PREVI housing experiment in Lima and the work of Vilanova Artigas, Sergio Ferro and Carlos Nelson in Brazil. McGuirk values the creation of urban infrastructures that are not governed by capitalist rules and emphasizes the work of the Tupac Amaru social Movement in the Northeast of Argentina. He stresses that Latin America found a political dignity that the developed world has lost. By means of examples such as the improvement of Paraisópolis and the introduction of alternative transport systems in cities like Caracas, Medellín and Río de Janeiro, he can assure that Latin America is teaching lessons to the rest of the world.