Browsing by Subject "Santo Domingo"
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Item An analysis of informal housing : the case of Los Platanitos, Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic(2010-12) Pusch, Christeen Alexandra; Sletto, Bjørn; Ward, PeterMany Latin American countries have transitioned from agricultural to service-oriented societies since the 1950s and have consequently seen a vast migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of new jobs created in cities. The vast majority of migrants have not been able to afford or obtain formal or government- built housing. They have, consequentially, turned to the informal sector, settled land that was owned by another and built their houses there despite in many cases not having services. The Dominican Republic has seen a similar sequence of events and has also seen a large increase in urban populations and informal housing in its cities. This paper examines the housing in one of these informal settlements, the community of Los Platanitos, located in the municipality of Santo Domingo Norte and among the poorer settlements in Santo Domingo. Specifically, this study examines the process in which the community was settled and consolidated as well as residents’ ability to improve their situation through acquisition of this property. It also looks at the current state of housing in Los Platanitos in terms of spatial distribution and existing and needed support systems.Item At the margin of the park : social inequality in urban environmental planning in the Santo Domingo greenbelt(2012-08) Davila, Tania Elizabeth; Sletto, Bjørn; Paterson, Robert G.Greenbelts have been used around the world to control urban growth and to enhance the natural environment of cities since the last century. However, some Latin American governments, influenced by urban renewal principles and modern planning, have implemented greenbelts to beautify and order cities. Much criticism has arisen about the social repercussions of using greenbelts as a way to control citizen behavior, which in many cases has resulted in exclusionary practices, especially of low-income populations. Based on a case study that documents and analyzes the uses and perceptions of residents of the informal settlement, Los Platanitos, of the Parque Nacional Mirador Norte, my research attempts to illuminate the political and social processes shaping urban environmental planning in Santo Domingo in order to understand practices of exclusion and marginalization in contexts marked by socioeconomic inequalities.Item ¡Súbete al Progreso! : narratives of progress and social mobility surrounding the Santo Domingo Metro(2011-05) Casey, Regina Suzanne; Sletto, Bjørn; Zhang, MingTransportation planning initiatives are assumed to further the development of growing cities across the globe. Latin American cities, especially, suffer from a deficit of infrastructure that presents greater challenges to the efficient movement of people and goods, which makes transportation one of the biggest hindrances to development in Latin America. Throughout the twentieth century, development projects in the Dominican Republic were carried out in the contexts of foreign military occupation and state repression, whereby processes of technical modernization arrived alongside state-led violence. Meanwhile, grandiose infrastructure projects were paired with narratives of national greatness. Decisions regarding land use and distribution of public services remained inattentive of the poorest residents, causing enormous inequalities in increasingly urbanized cities. President Leonel Fernández campaigned for his third term promising to break from old forms of corruption, and has symbolically delivered this promise of progress through the construction of a new subway system. The Santo Domingo Metro revolutionizes transportation options in key areas of a chaotic and congested road system, where many public transportation vehicles are old and dilapidated. Metro can save hours in commute times, provide safe, reliable transit at low cost, and promote sustainability. However, critics note that billions of dollars invested on Metro expansion preempt the funding of health and education. Construction processes displace neighborhoods, while many communities situated near the stations still face daily hardships associated with inadequate housing and lack of sanitation. My paper blends the perspectives of technical transportation planning and critical development theory to understand whether the Metro will serve these communities by improving their access to services, schools, and job sites, or simply drain scarce funds from these very areas. This paper also critically evaluates the way that the current administration‘s symbol of progress at times mirrors the top-down political culture of the past. The Metro thus elucidates larger theoretical and practical questions regarding the interactions of transportation planning and political culture, and their impacts on spatial hierarchies and growth within urban spaces.