The Paradox between Informality and Social Inclusion in Metropolitan Cities: The case of La Salada in Buenos Aires

SCHIAVO, ESTER; RODRÍGUEZ, SERGIO; VERA, PAULA

Cambridge

Congreso; Informality: Re-Viewing Latin American Cities; 2011

Informality is a forceful feature in the cities of Latin America and the Carib (LAC), it has been growing to the rhythm of its population which nowadays reaches 79,4 % (CEPAL, 2009) and in turn, it unfolds itself acquiring different forms in all of the urban activities and social sectors. This complex phenomenon is a product of the interaction of multiple social actors. In effect, public organizations, corporate private interests, organizations of the civil society or, simply, citizens who lead different initiatives, are exposing new manners of informality, which do not limit themselves to aspects related to the urban infrastructures but also they show questions related to governance and social inclusion. In this context, it must be ask about the characteristics that the social inclusion acquires in informal contexts. To such an end there will analyze the case of the fair La Salada, which is located in the periphery of the city of Buenos Aires and considered the LAC's biggest informal market, both for the volume of the business and for its precariousness with regard to the legal regulations (European Commission, 2006; United States Trade Representative, 2007 ). Though this fair forms part of an important productive system, its particularity lies in exceeding the strictly commercial question, orientating good number of its actions to satisfy social demands, which, with the time, it has driven to strengthen the bows of this community. This way, the deficient presence of the State in the area, added to the economic success of the fair and the multiple social and cultural enterprises, have driven to the generation of an autonomy project tending to create a new local government in the district where it is located.