Abstract

CROSSA, Verónica. Protecting Public Spaces in the Historical Center of Coyoacán. Alteridades [online]. 2013, vol.23, n.46, pp.39-51. ISSN 2448-850X.

An analysis of the neo-liberalization of public spaces in Latin America and its impact on street vendors and craftsmen, for whom these spaces constitute an essential part of their material and symbolic life. The historical center of Coyoacán is taken as an example to show the way in which street vendors and craftsmen -who were evicted from public spaces- undertook resistance strategies that stood as their commitment to integrating a public space, not only as a result of the economic importance, but also as a symbolic and emotional bond for the place; i.e., a sense of place.

Keywords : public space; street commerce; socio-spatial exclusion; resistance; sense of place.