6. Conclusion: the potential of place-making
The aim of this paper was to explore how the
discursive, spatial, social, cultural and political construction
of place occurs in colonias populares in
Mexico, and how this illustrates limited understandings
about urban informal settlements, in order to unsettle
some assumptions underlying marginalising discourses.
This focus was guided by ideas about ‘place’ from
critical social geography, synthesised in ‘place-making’,
the analytical lens used to view diverse factors
influencing the development of urban informal settlements.
It sought to do this through exploring complexity
in situated cases of particular neighbourhoods with
‘informal’ characteristics, looking at their residents’
lived experiences, and comparing these with information
from other sources such as local policy, media,
public opinion and interviews with local government
and civil society representatives. In doing so, it
contrasted discursive constructions of colonias populares
with the lived experiences of their residents, which
may be shaped by, but are not limited to, the effects of
these constructions.