Cantegriles and Transnational Concerns about Urban Inequality in Uruguay, 1945–70

In the postwar period from 1945 to 1970, housing of poorer citizens in Montevideo, Uruguay became a growing national and transnational concern for different stakeholders in both Uruguay and the Global North. During the early Cold War, this led to new approaches for public and collaborative housing including funding from the Inter-American Development Bank and different national agencies in Uruguay. Informal neighborhoods around Montevideo continued to multiply during this period while becoming colloquially known as cantegriles or asentamientos irregulares. Uruguayan policymakers and Catholic activists proposed new approaches while social scientists examined the rising urban informality in what was historically viewed as Latin America's most egalitarian society. This paper focuses on how these various historical actors sought to engage with local communities and collectively shaped the transnational production of knowledge around Montevideo's urban informality when compared to other Latin American cities. The research draws on archives in the United States and Uruguay to study how urban inequality in Montevideo was exacerbated in these decades.