Inhabiting Multicultural Informality: Rethinking Housing Policy from the Los Arenales informal settlements macro camp

Abstract

The Los Arenales informal settlements macro camp is an area that, in 2022, already brings together more than 2,000 households, mostly composed of immigrants settled in the northern sector of the city of Antofagasta. This complex territorial entity has established itself as an urban space internationally recognized for its community organization –despite its complexities– in the struggle for the right to housing. This article develops an interpretation of the Los Arenales community leaders’ discourses to help inform the processes and meanings behind the establishment of a highly complex informal settlement. In doing so, the article helps to rethink housing policy in Chile from the perspective of vulnerable communities. It identifies an existing creative capacity for social habitat production that could be the basis of a housing policy centered on resources provided to the communities so that they can produce their own spaces in a cooperative way and with technical assistance.