Shantytowns, housing and state order: the Plan de Emergencia in 1950s Argentina
Adriana Massidda, De Montfort University (UK)
Awards RIBA President s Awards for Research 2020
Category History and Theory
Aerial view of Barrio Derqui, one of the neighbourhoods built as part of the Plan de Emergencia, shortly before its opening. Buenos Aires, Tres de Febrero district, 1958. Banco Hipotecario Nacional, Plan de Emergencia
In September 1955, in Argentina a coup d état backed by a heterogeneous coalition of military and civil actors overthrew the elected government of Juan Domingo Perón and set out to profoundly alter most of his policies. One key aspect to be addressed was that of housing and, by extension, the role of shantytowns in the urban landscape. Indeed, after a decade of significant social and economic change, urban employment had grown faster than housing provision and shantytowns had expanded rapidly, gaining sudden visibility. This research analyses the first shantyto