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The objective of this paper is to analyze how the process of the production of space is configured in the 'Nuevo Amanecer' settlement in the city of Santa Rosa (La Pampa). It is a form of popular urban habitat resulting from poverty, where a group of families work in brick kilns recycle elements from sanitary landfills and do household activities intended for consumption. For that purpose, some concepts from Henri Lefebvre's (1974) theory of space production are taken into account which two dimensions of spatial practice conceived by David Harvey (1998) - 'appropriation of space' and 'control/domination of space'. In this sense, emphasis will be placed on the factors that influenced the shaping of the settlement and the actions taken by the Municipality against the occupation of public lands reserved for installation of sanitary equipment. In this regard, we propose the existence of tension between the neighbours' practices/representations and those conceived from the State, making differential territorialities come into conflict. The methodology used in the paper combines non-participant observation, in-depth interviews with key informants, structured questionnaires and informal conversations with the neighbours of the place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context of invisibility and emerging struggle, indigenous groups build and reconstruct identity and community senses within a process that is both political and cultural, and which collides with the contradictions of ethnic definitions and the strategic essentialisms that re-signify criteria of authenticity. This paper seeks to account for processes of communalization, which took and are currently taking place in the town of Miguel Riglos (La Pampa), paying special attention to the particular case of Eusebia Farías community. Before this, the text will review the conditions of their invisibility, which start by the late 19th century, and the form of occupation of the territory by these indigenous groups to account for the continuity of this population up to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though competent analysis and accurate urban planning can provide short-medium term solutions to the infrastructural problems of the majority of urban areas, overpopulation, a lack of essential services and sundry sanitary deficiencies generally imply a low quality of life for the inhabitants of a medium-sized town. These problems are mostly determined by the social and economic level of town dwellers that should ideally be able to have access to vital services and satisfy basic needs such as food, clothing, health, education and recreation. This paper suggests that these variants are in narrow relation with each other and that the ways in which they come together ultimately decide the harmonious growth of a town and the improvement of its inhabitants' welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]