The long-term effects of housing policy instrumentation: Rio de Janeiro’s case from an actor–network theory perspective

Abstract

This paper explores the long-term effects of Rio de Janeiro’s slum upgrading, a key policy instrument of municipal housing since the 1990s, and an essential reference for housing initiatives worldwide. From a theoretical stance, this paper builds on the Political Sociology of Public Policy Instruments (PPI) and actor–network theory (ANT). The paper argues that Rio’s slum upgrading instrumentation, that is, its constitution and use, has been key to the various housing policy oscillations over the past three decades. It also contends that this instrumentation contributed to the depoliticization of the municipal housing policy through the fostering of a ‘community of practice’ centred on slum upgrading, formed by a wide range of state and non-sate actors, and based on a technical rationality. This community and its practices have weakened the political control over Rio’s housing policy in the past decades.

Keywords:

• Policy instrumentation
• actor–network theory
• Rio de Janeiro
• favelas
• slum upgrading
• housing policy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that contributed to improving this paper. The author would also like to thank Keith Jacobs and Kathleen Flanagan for their valuable suggestions and support during the review process. Finally, the author would like to thank Jorge Fiori that supervised the PhD research that underpins this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This knowledge about favela upgrading was linked to a broader process of knowledge production about favelas in previous decades. For more information see Valladares (2006).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT) under grant number 306868 and grant number 249811.

Notes on contributors

Hector Becerril

Hector Becerril completed his PhD at UCL in 2015. He is currently a CONACYT Research Fellow commissioned at the Autonomous University of Guerrero to conduct research on housing, urban development and disaster risk.