Negociaciones, permanencia y construcción cotidiana en villas (Villas La Lonja, Cildáñez y Castañares, Buenos Aires, 1958-1967)

This article offers a study of three Buenos Aires shantytowns – La Lonja, Villa Cildáñez and Villa Castañares – in historical perspective in order to analyze processes of spatial transformation in urban informal spaces during their first decades of growth, as well as the state policies which promoted shantytown displacement. The article argues that it is possible to distinguish at least two types of interrelated dynamics regarding the struggle for urban space in shantytowns: mobilization and the everyday procurement of basic services. Furthermore, it is argued that those shantytowns which were most consolidated, both in spatial (or material) terms as in organizational aspects, were those which eventually succeeded in remaining in their locations. The research is based on the analysis of historical sources.