Postgraduate Researcher, APL

The dynamics of popular habitats in Latin American cities has been acknowledged and studied from different points of views and approaches by researchers in the social sciences. Very little attention, however, has been paid to public life and the development of the public space in popular neighbourhoods in Mexico. The continuous improvement of the urban environment at its different levels is part of a life project of the inhabitants of popular environments; within these processes, the public space and its transformations reflect the struggle and negotiation, values and expectations of a collectivity that has constructed it. This article draws on an exploratory study undertaken in the public space of popular neighbourhoods in Xalapa, southeast Mexico. Drawing on narratives, photographs and drawings, the paper examines different aspects concerning the planning, design, management and appropriation undertaken by the actors involved within the urban consolidation process