Neoliberal ideology and urbanization: de-democratization through semi-autonomous private territories.
de-democratization, neoliberalism, urbanization, semi-autonomous territories, privatization.
The hypothesis guiding this paper is that the privatization trends of urban space at its various scales encapsulate a conscious political project of de-democratization within neoliberal rationality. De-democratization by neoliberalism has been studied widely, but often from a Global North perspective. Following hints in the literature that the Latin American context has particularities that escape global theory, the work turns to the Brazilian context in search of clues about our specific reality, engaging with an emerging phenomenon: private neighborhoods. To frame this object in relation to neoliberalism and de-democratization, I propose the concept "semi-autonomous private territory", seeking to highlight the implementation of forms of governance and ways of living based on broad autonomy from the state, beyond the trend of privatization and securitization. The research method consists of a theoretical front and an instrumental case study. The theoretical front is based on two axes: the social production of urban space and the right to the city; and neoliberalism and the crisis of democracy. The case study chosen is the private neighborhood Golden Lake, by the property company Multiplan, in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil).