By Right or Might: notes on the MPL-Collective’s self-managed social housing projects

This essay discusses the MPL’s experience (People on Fight Movement), a Chilean collective on its built and self-managed housing projects to date. Its perseverant hard work is slowly showing results in a country that neglects the urgency of accessing decent housing and resists constant natural disasters proper from the region. Relevant to what this collective has achieved is the history of Chilean housing policy, particularly during the second half of the twentieth century and right before Chile’s dictatorship era, which this paper also refers to. Besides, this paper comments on the strenuous task of carrying out and materializing housing projects created along with future dwellers on the territory they have always lived in. In front of current neoliberal social housing policies, the MPLcollective has struggled to concretize its members’ housing demands and bring back former lines of action on this matter. From the perspective of someone who joined the MPL, the role and involvement of architects in providing support and guidance to these collectives in order to channel their demands appropriately and successfully remains fundamental. In this way, this paper aims to invite other architects to contribute to community organizations seeking better housing conditions.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.112.90

Volume Editors
Germane Barnes & Blair Satterfield

ISBN
978-1-944214-45-6