The ideal of the villa as a community and its reality of stigmatization: the experience of Villa Don Bosco in Limpio

Abstract

This work deals with the development of a planned urban settlement, from the vision and experience of its promoters and its initial inhabitants. It is an unpublished exploratory study, called “The ideal of the villa as a community and its reality of stigmatization: The experience of Villa Don Bosco in Limpio”. It was carried out between 2011 and 2012. However, it is valid considering that there are few works that investigate the effects of planned urbanizations in Paraguay and can contribute to public policies that promote housing solutions today, especially given the accelerated urbanization process that the country is facing. Data collection was carried out using a qualitative methodology through 15 semi-structured interviews with key informants, including 8 women and 7 men, including planners and first inhabitants. From the analysis it was verified that the process of this urbanization maintained two ideals, on the one hand, the planners wanted to form a traditional Community in sociological terms, while on the other, the first inhabitants wanted their own property and housing in the style of a society/city. Likewise, they longed to leave the marsh to abandon the stigma of being marginalized, however, with the name of Villa, they began to build a new social identity, that of being villeros, villa gua, and with it a renewal of their conditions of stigmatization.