Urban Commons in Tension: The Case of the Velatropa Ecovillage in Argentina

Abstract

The growth of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) does not escape the worldwide trend of population growth in urban areas. In this context, social movements emerge seeking to build alternatives to the way of life imposed by modernity in large cities. One of these movements takes place around the socio-environmental processes of defense and restoration of green spaces and the conformation of new communities. The movements can be thought in the framework of a resignification and appropriation of territory to constitute it in an urban common good. The objective of this article is to analyze the tensions produced by the creation of new urban commons based on the case analysis of the Velatropa ecovillage, located in the University Campus of the University of Buenos Aires, in CABA, Argentina. For this, the research uses a qualitative methodology, based on the ethnographic method of participant observation, complemented by the analysis of secondary sources of information. The results describe the fundamental tension that arises from the conflicting rationalities over which each one of the actors involved in the conflict acts. In this case, the community and ecological coexistence of the territory with the mercantile use of the property are face to face.