The Right to City in Argentina: Building Capacity through Hecho en Buenos Aires, a Street Newspaper

As the new millennium unfolds, many activists and scholars have responded to enduring inequality in urban environments by embracing French philosopher Henri Lefebvre\u27s writings on the right to the city as a rallying cry and demand. In an effort to contribute to this dialogue, this thesis explores the concept of the right to the city by operationalizing it as a theoretical framework rooted in Lefebvre’s original writings and applying it o a grounded examination of the street newspaper Hecho en Buenos Aires to examine the intersection of right to the city theory and practice. This investigation finds that the organization seems to advance the right to the city in Buenos Aires albeit without embracing its rhetoric. The organization does this, first, by developing the individual capacity of individuals in situación de calle through integrated, holistic programs that promote autogestión and, second, by creating opportunities for those same individuals to appropriate urban space and participate in urban processes - two actions key to Lefebvre\u27s radical and transformative right to the city. The investigation finds evidence, moreover, to suggest that the organization as a whole seeks radical, transformative change in alignment with Lefebvre\u27s conceptualization of the right to the city. These preliminary findings are closely contextualized by the historical specificity of Argentina, but may be used to inform the work of other street newspaper organizations operating in other Latin American countries or even in other developing world regions