NOTES ON THE PRODUCTION OF A SPACE OF CONFLICT IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CITY

Abstract

The paper aims to understand one of the contradictions inherent in the urban crisis – that between domination and appropriation of space – against the backdrop of the practices of urban social movements that produce a space of conflict. We understand space of conflict as that where an encounter brought about by conflict gives rise to actions that demystify discourses and actions carried out by agents that seek to dominate space. The space of conflict is collective, insofar as it does not reduce citizenship and participation to discourse, but instead promotes the demands made by residents. Our hypothesis thus rests on the idea that resistance can produce a space of conflict. For this reason, the struggle waged by the residents of Maria Cursi (a slum in the city of São Paulo) together with the Movement in Defense of Slum Dwellers reveals the production of such space. In order to counteract the strategies for removing the slum from high value land in São Paulo’s peripheral space, these residents had to promote activities that politicized lived space in their battle against policymakers and others interested in displacement.