Abstract

Riobamba and Cuenca, two intermediate cities in Ecuador, have become part of global networks through transnational migration, incoming remittances, tourism, and global economic connections. Their landscape is changing in several significant ways, a reflection of the social and urban transformations occurring in contemporary Ecuadorian society. Exploring the discourses and actions of two contrasting population groups, rarely studied in tandem, within these cities—popular-settlement residents and professionals in the planning and construction sector—this study analyzes how each is involved in house designs and neighborhood consolidation. Ideas, ambitions, and power relations come into play at every stage of the production and use of urban space, and as a result individual decisions about both house designs and the urban layout influence the development of the urban fabric. Knowledge about intermediate cities is crucial in order to understand current trends in the predominantly urban societies of Latin America, and this study is an example of needed interdisciplinary scholarship that contributes to the fields of urban studies, urban anthropology, sociology, and architecture.

Christien Klaufus holds a Masters degree in Architecture and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology. Before joining CEDLA in 2008, she was a researcher at Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on urban development, housing, architecture, and material culture. She has worked in Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, and the Netherlands.

“Klaufus’ work provides interesting cultural insight for architecture and urban planning fields with an added anthropological perspective often overlooked and understudied… This ambitious project achieves an admirable breadth of themes, an impressive range of theoretical engagement.” · Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology

“This is a wonderful book..[The] inclusion of two contrasting population groups in two cities makes it an ambitious and challenging project, which in less competent hands could be problematic. But it is this breadth combined with depth which really gives the study its authority. The focus on intermediate cities is refreshing and the exploration of global networks and influences through international migration offers new insights and makes an important and contemporary contribution to the literature. This is outstanding interdisciplinary scholarship and ethnography at its best… a valuable addition to the literature on housing, poverty, urban studies and city planning as well as to the study of popular aesthetics, architecture, urban anthropology, and sociology.” · Peter Kellett, University of Newcastle upon Tyne