Repoliticizing territories. Experiences of popular politics in an urban settlement

In the self-building practices we do not see just a response to exclusion, they are producing urban imaginary patterns at the same time and they should be considered as a laboratory for policies of cooperation and transition from the public space to the common space. For a better understanding of these processes, I aim to focus on the role that territories and inhabited spaces play in the experience of self-organization in a popular settlement on the outskirts of Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. I have divided the paper into three sections, first I will focus on Mexican housing policies, dwelling on the new housing model proposed for the public-private alliance. Then I will describe some of the principal dynamics which occur in a popular settlement during the building phase. I will conclude with considerations on the role of territory in a context of popular politics shaped by relations of governamentality.