Contested incrementalism: Elemental’sQuinta Monroy settlement fifteen years on

Abstract

Quinta Monroy is an award-winning co-designed settlement for 93 families on half a hectare of land at Iquique in northern Chile. Neighbors’ complaints about the disorderly settlement peaked after the landowner’s death and provoked untenured residents to seek government subsidies to redevelop the settlement. From 2003, a government social housing project was coordinated by the “Elemental” architecture firm with US$10,000 per household. With the resident’s temporary relocation, 93 modular and interlinked apartments were built around a series of courtyards. These apartments, which were designed as “half-houses,” were subsequently co-opted by residents adding rooms in locations planned in advance by Elemental. Many households have since doubled the size of their apartment and reformed the settlement in ways not anticipated by Elemental.

This paper details a spatial and ethnographic study of the Quinta Monroy settlement since redevelopment to identify opportunities and risks that accompany this type of social housing model. The study reveals evidence that residents’ capacities to enlarge apartments commonly exceeds the architect’s expectations and that unregulated expansions often compromise the settlement’s livability. This research anticipates further opportunities for expansion in this semi-regulated settlement and investigates possibilities that another contested slum settlement may emerge.

Key words： Social housing; Incremental development; Co-design; Aravena; Chile