Social memory, political culture and the right to the city. An analysis in two public spaces in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

© 2019, Universidad de Chile, Instituto de la Vivienda. All rights reserved. Social memory and political culture are studied to understand the appropriation of public space and the right to the city. This right goes beyond the distribution of public goods and services and includes the acknowledgment of difference, participation, and the possibility of producing space through the act of inhabiting. A qualitative methodological approach is taken, to study two public spaces in Cuenca, Ecuador. The analysis shows that centrality, identity and belonging, elements linked to memory, stimulate social interaction. Meanwhile, a political culture characterized by marked hierarchies, paternalism, and weak empowerment affects social organization; such culture contributes to tame conflict, avoiding the configuration of a collective actor, and reinforcing institutional dependencies.