Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In recent years there has been substantial research on Dominican migration and transnationalism, yet these studies have largely overlooked both the manner in which globalisation generates new localisations, and the continuing salience of the state as a mediator between the global and the local. Based upon fieldwork in La Ciénaga, a poor barrio of Santo Domingo, this thesis argues that emplacement, rather than transnationalism, is paradigmatic of the experiences of poor Dominicans and provides their primary source of unity. Race, ethnicity, and social class have long been promoted as structuring the experiences of Caribbean people, but my analysis suggests that these operate more as sources of differentiation than of identification in Santo Domingo’s barrios. I examine the strategies and practices residents deploy to create value in place, overcome their localisation, and achieve progreso (progress) within the bounds of the state. These include transforming the material environment and its symbolic meanings, elaborating certain social hierarchies and contesting others, and developing locality-based political organisations. In the Caribbean, it has been usual for studies of cultural oppositions or dualisms to effectively constitute a different genre to studies of class, race, and globalization. My ethnography indicates that this distinction is false. Residents of La Ciénaga deploy cultural oppositions and notion of difference to define a place in the social hierarchies of the barrio and city, while simultaneously recognising the moral value and identical structural position of those around them. Popular politics in Santo Domingo are characterised by this tension between social stratification and the elaboration of cultural value in place. This thesis develops a political and social economy of value that addresses both the bases of stratification in the sphere of production and the ways in which projects of self-creation, such as through consumption, allow for the elaboration of cultural value and meaning for individuals and social groups. Given the importance of locality to popular politics, I argue that this integrated approach is necessary to any assessment of the transformative potential of community organisations and other political movements in Santo Domingo.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In recent years there has been substantial research on Dominican migration and transnationalism, yet these studies have largely overlooked both the manner in which globalisation generates new localisations, and the continuing salience of the state as a mediator between the global and the local. Based upon fieldwork in La Ciénaga, a poor barrio of Santo Domingo, this thesis argues that emplacement, rather than transnationalism, is paradigmatic of the experiences of poor Dominicans and provides their primary source of unity. Race, ethnicity, and social class have long been promoted as structuring the experiences of Caribbean people, but my analysis suggests that these operate more as sources of differentiation than of identification in Santo Domingo’s barrios. I examine the strategies and practices residents deploy to create value in place, overcome their localisation, and achieve progreso (progress) within the bounds of the state. These include transforming the material environment and its symbolic meanings, elaborating certain social hierarchies and contesting others, and developing locality-based political organisations. In the Caribbean, it has been usual for studies of cultural oppositions or dualisms to effectively constitute a different genre to studies of class, race, and globalization. My ethnography indicates that this distinction is false. Residents of La Ciénaga deploy cultural oppositions and notion of difference to define a place in the social hierarchies of the barrio and city, while simultaneously recognising the moral value and identical structural position of those around them. Popular politics in Santo Domingo are characterised by this tension between social stratification and the elaboration of cultural value in place. This thesis develops a political and social economy of value that addresses both the bases of stratification in the sphere of production and the ways in which projects of self-creation, such as through consumption, allow for the elaboration of cultural value and meaning for individuals and social groups. Given the importance of locality to popular politics, I argue that this integrated approach is necessary to any assessment of the transformative potential of community organisations and other political movements in Santo Domingo.

L'occupation illégale de terrains dans les quebradas et la construction de véritables quartiers populaires en dehors de l'ordre établi, trouve leur point de départ dans une crise structurale d'identité du logement social à Valparaiso, Chili. On ne peut pas considérer ces actions, comme une réponse mécanique à une carence. Il s'agit d'un processus social, étroitement lié aux rapports entre les forces sociales ; où la caractéristique essentielle est d'avoir construit un milieu résidentiel « auto construit», dans l'illégalité. Par ailleurs, les quebradas comme unités territoriales et rémanentes naturelles se trouvent dans un processus constant d'occupation et de dégradation, puisqu'il n'existe pas de stratégies urbaines précises et particulières pour ce type d'environnement, en supposant qu'elles disparaîtront ainsi d'elles-mêmes, sans considérer les bénéfices qu'elles produisent pour toute la ville comme contrôleurs climatologiques. Alors dans ces conditions, quelles sont les valeurs propres des quebradas qui devront être prises en compte dans les approches futures d'urbanisation? Peuvent-elles être intégrées dans une planification urbaine particulière ? Les normes de construction en vigueur pourront être modifiées en poursuivant une intégration réelle à la ville et une administration intégrale de son patrimoine naturel? Pourront-elles devenir comme des parcs urbains qui incluent le logement social ? Nous parlerons de quebradas puisque l'usage courant à Valparaiso est d'utiliser ce terme pour désigner des petites vallées encaissées dès que l'on s'éloigne du la plaine littorale. / The illegal occupation of land in the quebradas, and the building of real neighborhoods outside the established order, find their point of departure in a structural crisis of identity of social housing in Valparaiso, Chile. It is impossible to consider these actions as a mechanical response to deficiency. It is a social process, closely linked to the relationship between the social forces, it's essential characteristic being the construction of residential self built neighborhoods, in total illegality. The quebradas as territorial and persistent natural units are in a proces of constant occupation and degradation, since there are no precise and specific urban strategies for this type of environment, assuming that they will disappear, without considering the benefits they produce for the whole city as climate controllers. Under these conditions, what are the values of the quebradas that should be taken into account in future approaches to urbanization? Can they be integrated into a special urban planning? May the current construction standards be modified by pursuing a real integration in the city and a full administration of its natural heritage? Will they become like urban parks that include social housing? We will talk about quebrada, since it is common in Valparaiso to use this term in reference to small valleys incised as soon as one moves away from the coastal plain.

The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the question of urban crime and its relationship with the lower income groups in the cities by concentrating in the case study conducted in one of the deprived neighbourhoods of Ankara, namely Hidirliktepe. In the dominant conception on urban crime, there are two main assumptions / urban crime is partly an outcome of urbanization itself and the main actors of urban crime are deprived communities those living in the most deteriorated neighborhoods of the cities. The thesis challenges both assumptions by arguing that urbanization itself could not be accounted for the rising crime rates and it is unwarranted to argue that deprived communities are the main source of urban crime. Against this bias, in this thesis it is argued that the very same perception is used as a part of wider policy of isolation towards the lower income groups, and this social as well as the economic isolation and exclusion has important contributions to the rising crime rates in the deprived neighborhoods in urban areas. The findings of the case study conducted in Hidirliktepe, one of the neighborhoods where the most deprived communities of Ankara live, support these arguments.

[pt] Esse trabalho tem como objetivo contribuir para a reflexão das políticas públicas urbanas com foco nos riscos e vulnerabilidades sociais em assentamentos precários. A pesquisa se desenvolve a partir do objeto de estudo riscos e vulnerabilidades sociais, analisado através de um recorte temporal das políticas públicas urbanas implementadas na favela da Rocinha, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, de 2006 a 2014. A escolha da Rocinha como estudo de caso se justifica pelas características de precariedade urbanística e edilícia, bem como pelos diversos problemas de riscos e vulnerabilidades sociais. Essa dissertação busca analisar os fatores que produzem as desigualdades sociais no espaço urbano, que configuram em parte a ausência do direito à cidade, trabalhando com os conceitos de riscos endógenos e exógenos. A metodologia se desenvolve por meio de três categorias de análise: risco e vulnerabilidade, desigualdade social e direito à cidade, a partir de pesquisa documental, visita a campo e entrevistas semiestruturadas com lideranças comunitárias. A pesquisa conclui que a vulnerabilidade na Rocinha está diretamente relacionada com a desigualdade social e a ausência do direito à cidade, tanto em comparação a bairros privilegiados da cidade, quanto internamente, devido à negligência ainda maior sobre os sub-bairros mais precários, que recebem menor atenção do poder público. Os principais riscos endógenos identificados foram segurança pública e precariedade de moradias e de infraestrutura. E os riscos exógenos, inundação e deslizamento. As entrevistas apontaram como principais vulnerabilidades a violência, insegurança alimentar, saneamento básico e pobreza. / [en] This thesis aims to contribute to the reflection of urban public policies focusing on social risks and vulnerabilities in precarious settlements. To achieve such goal the research will analyze urban public policies developed in the squatter settlement known as Favela Rocinha in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2006 to 2014. The choice of Rocinha as a case study is justified by the characteristics of urban and building precariousness as well as the various problems of social risks and vulnerabilities. Therefore, this thesis will analyze the aspects that produce social inequalities in the urban space, which partially configure the absence of the right to the city, using the concepts of endogenous and exogenous risks. The methodology is developed through three categories of analysis: risk and vulnerability, social inequality, and the right to the city, based on documentary research, field research and semi-structured interviews with community leaders. The research concludes that vulnerability in Rocinha is directly related to social inequality and the absence of the right to the city, both in comparison to privileged neighborhoods of the city, and internally, due to the greater neglect of the most precarious sub-neighborhoods, which receive less attention from the government. The mais endogenous risks identified were public security and precariouness of housing and infrastructure. And exogenous risks were flooding and landslides. The interviews pointed out as main vulnerabilities violence, food insecurity, basic sanitation and poverty.