ABSTRACT
In urban studies, empirical and theoretical findings from the past two decades regarding the design of urban spaces in the South unveil different agencies in the co-production of urban spaces. This reflects a debate more attuned to the ways in which spaces are conceived locally. Despite the planning instruments that enabled regulations to improve equity in the city, social movements’ struggles and the spatial outcomes of their collective action lack further consideration in the design and planning debates. Thus, we problematise co-production under the lens of insurgent citizenship to discuss the complexity of the spatial forms that result from their actions. We analyse two cases according to theoretical premises to reflect on the collective as a resource to equalise the social, political, and economic realities that shape spatial production and its uses: Redes da Maré, a local organisation from the Maré favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and the squat movement at Ocupação 9 de Julho in downtown São Paulo. We rely on empirically nourished design research, making use of excerpts from processes of participant observation in the form of photo essays and local narratives, and engage with the theoretical underpinnings of co-production and insurgent citizenship to elaborate on the proposed discussion.
