Public Redeveloping Policies: A Case Study of the Felipe Varela Neighbourhood in Ushuaia

Abstract

This article analyses the socio-spatial transformations underwent at the Caudillo Federal Felipe Varela neighborhood in the city of Ushuaia, within the framework of the National Program for Neighborhood Improvement (or PROMEBA after its Spanish acronym), from 2009 to 2015, as a public policy for development on a human scale. Using a qualitative methodological strategy, interviews were conducted with the different actors involved in the neighborhood redevelopment project, from a grounded theory approach. This case study allows to reflect on the forms and possibilities of building development projects in the local territory, from a broad view of public policies that meet the multiple human needs, both material and symbolic. The central question of this research is what have been the most important socio-spatial transformations arising from the neighborhood improvement project?; which involves the neighborhood’s residents in the development process. In this sense, how have neighbors participated in the project of redevelopment of the neighborhood? How has the connection been among the different actors intervening in the project of redevelopment of the neighborhood?