Barrios obreros católicos en Quito. La producción social del espacio en la década de 1930

Abstract

In the 1930s, the influence of progressive currents of thought such as social Catholicism, sanitation and urban modernization made the Catholic Church one of the main promoters of working class neighborhoods in Quito. In these processes of production of space, the residential projects promoted by the Order of Preachers of Santo Domingo stood out, in which the participation of different social actors motivated by particular interests to modify the material and moral conditions of the working class group can be evidenced. The socioeconomic and political relations and the criteria of these agents were translated into the physical space of the neighborhoods, imprinting specific characteristics on their urban and residential fabrics. After 1945, with the incorporation of new models of modern urban planning, this type of “social production of space” was interrupted; the first Regulatory Plan of Quito was established as a tool whose segregationist proposals were planned for the Dominican working class neighborhoods, prioritizing the functional design of space over the social relations. This research has two main aims to relate, first the physical and social components of the Dominican production of working class neighbor hoods characterized by the participation of different urban actors organized through a charitable entity “Sociedad Cultura del Obrero”, whose management made it possible for SCO to promote, finance, project, build and benefit from these housing projects; and second the approach of the Quito Regulatory Plan regarding identity, connectivity and the relationship of these neighborhoods with the city.