Blurring Boundaries: Waste as a Vehicle for a Social Metamorphosis

Abstract

In 2001, Argentina suffered an economic collapse that almost wiped out the middle-class, leaving thousands homeless. This resulted in the growth of the informal settlements and informal sectors of employment in and around the formal city of Buenos Aires, the “Capital Federal.” The urgency for survival led to the rise of many waste-pickers or, as they became known the cartoneros. Today they are the primary recycling program in the city with many cooperatives helping their movement. The city has enforced a ‘zero waste’ policy for 2020 in dealing with their serious trash problem and the cartoneros will play a large role in this transformation. This thesis aims to address two complex social issues (disparity and waste) with a long-term architectural initiative which hopes to ultimately blur the social boundaries that exist in the “Paris of the South” via the cartoneros.