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The concept of Social Production of Habitat, established during the 70s in Latin America, is part of the following activities: building of houses, communitarian improvement, planning and implementation of actions and the political actuation¹. Therefore, as concept it is adverse to Market or Public Production of Urban Habitat. These are collective processes of self coordination in establishment of human settlements, building of houses, improvement of infrastructure and social services from `social processes' and initiatives of self-help in the communities². Such processes assume the right the people has to the city, the community and the decent house.


Under this perspective, they are central subjects of the Seminar:


- Social Production of Habitat and the right to the city and to the housing;
- Social Production of Habitat and the public policies of urban and housing development; and
- Social Production of Habitat and the strategies from organizations for its own promotion.

Social Production of Habitat includes 4 basic dimensions of development, which can be described throughout their main elements. The presentation of the subjects must make possible the analysis and the understanding of the aspects related to each dimension described bellow:




Satisfaction of individual and collective needs

Productive Community

Responsible citizenship

Sustainable Urban Development

Building or improvement of decent houses that allow to have access to the right to a safe home

An environment that provides basic services and needed areas for interaction in community in a sustainable way

Management modalities and financial and transference options that make possible the access to the housing and to the services, by means of economy measures and crossed and regulars subsidies

Production ways that promote job opportunities generation and stimulate local economies

Politician-democratic participation when making a decision related to all kinds of communitarian participation and management of processes when making local decisions

Development of local capability that develops capacities and strength the communitarian organization in the local management of the development

Adequacy of human habitat to the natural environment

Operational and financial sustainability with transparency, flexibility, budgets control, viability, efficiency and effectiveness of the made activities

¹Gustavo Romero Fernandez. (2002). “La producción social del habitat: Reflexiones sobre su historia, concepcioness y propuestas.” Vivitos y coleando: 41 años trabajando por el habitat popular en América Latina. In E. O. Flores & M. L. Zárate (eds). HIC-AL.

²Enrique Ortiz Flores. Notas sobre la produccion social de vivienda. Elementos basicos para su conceptualizacion e impulso. Casa y ciudad, Mexico 2004.

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