Contested territories: Lessons from interdisciplinary dialogues on conflict, resistance and alternatives in Latin America is a collaborative working paper published in 2021. The paper draws on conversations that took place in three workshops held at the universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield between 2019 and 2020. It opens a debate around the need to develop more holistic, multidimensional analytical tools to study territorial contestation. It is part of a broader discussion within the Contested Territories network and can be found in English and Spanish on the Contested Territories website.

In 2018, I embarked on the translation of Neil Smith’s Uneven development: Nature, capital, and the production of space (1984) into Spanish. This was possible thanks to the fantastic work of Traficantes de Sueños, whose political production and communication project involves publishing critical works that animate transformative debates and practices. Desarrollo desigual: Naturaleza, capital y la producción del espacio was finally published in January 2020 under a CC licence commons and as part of the Free Culture movement. It can be downloaded for free or with a donation from Editorial Traficantes.

Ser franelero en el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (To be an informal valet in Mexico City’s Historic Centre, 2017) tells the story of one day in the life of Raul, an informal worker who helps drivers park their cars in public spaces. This piece is part of the creative writing initiative led by Claudia Zamorano (CIESAS-DF), Ser: Catorce experiencias de vida a inicios del siglo XXI (Being: Fourteen life experiences at the beginning of the 21st century), where contributors explore creative ways to present their encounters with research participants. The piece looks into the conflicts and dilemmas that Raul confronts, produces and embodies, including the vulnerabilities and inequalities that shape the lives of millions of people in Latin American cities. This work is available on the CIESAS online bookstore.

The chapter Renovación urbana, nostalgia y habitar en el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (Urban regeneration, nostalgia and habiting in the Historic Centre of Mexico City, 2017) reflects on the nostalgic discourses of low-income residents as an expression of sorrow that conveys more than just imaginary understandings of the past. Nostalgia is here analysed as a symbolic strategy to endure and challenge the grand narratives of urban regeneration and as a way of conveying both the residents’ discontent with the present and their aspirations for a less disruptive future. The chapter is part of Renovación urbana, modos de habitar y desigualdad en la Ciudad de México (Urban regeneration, forms of habiting and inequality in Mexico City), edited by Angela Giglia (UAM Iztapalapa). A previous piece, La revitalización del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México: Entre la voluntad de la élite y la realidad del pueblo (The regeneration of Mexico City’s Historic Centre, 2014) is available on Pacarina del Sur.

The book chapter Los usos del Derecho a la Ciudad en América Latina y la Ciudad de México. Representaciones desde la academia (1998-2018) (The meanings of the Right to the City in Latin America and Mexico City: Academic representations (1998-2018)) examines dominant and emergent themes linked to the concept to problematise its theoretical and political implications over time. This chapter is included in Transformación urbana y derecho a la ciudad: Debates y reflexiones desde la teoría de las representaciones sociales (Urban transformation and the Right to the City: Debates and reflection from a social representations perspective, 2021), edited by Umaña Reyes (UNAM, Mexico).

Por el derecho a la ciudad: Diálogos entre academia y organizaciones sociales de la Ciudad de México (For the Right to the City: Conversations between academia and social movements in Mexico City, 2017) compiles grassroots visions and experiences that translate Henri Lefebvre’s Right to the City into a situated political and legal tool. The book was co-edited by Carmen Icazuriaga, Claudia Zamorano, Margarita Pérez Negrete, and myself (CIESAS-DF, Mexico). For this volume, I authored El derecho a la ciudad de Henri Lefebvre: Construir la utopía de los objetos posibles (Henri Lefebvre’s Right to the City: Creating the utopia of the possible objects) and co-authored El derecho a la ciudad en el siglo XXI. Construcción de derechos pese a todo (The right to the city in the 21st century: Creating rights against all odds). This work is available on the CIESAS online bookstore.

#YoTeRespeto: Género, espacio público y acoso callejero en Tlalpan, 2014 (#IRespectYou: Gender, public space and street harassment in Tlalpan, 2014) discusses the spatial challenges faced by activists and governments designing policies against sexual harassment in public spaces. This book chapter engages with broader debates concerning gender, citizenship and space as they are brought together through policy. It was published in 2018 as part of Reflexiones interdisciplinarias sobre la ciudadania de género. Mujeres en la Ciudad de México (Interdisciplinary studies on citizenship and gender: Women in Mexico City), edited by Lorena Umaña Reyes (UNAM, Mexico). Two pieces linked to this discussion are: ¿Autoritarismo en el espacio urbano? Disputas intergeneracionales en la Plaza San Juan, Ciudad de México (An authoritarian public space? Intergenerational conflict in Plaza San Juan), available on eMetropolis, and Producción del espacio público local en tiempos de renovación urbana. La plaza San Juan (Public space production in contexts of urban regeneration: Plaza San Juan), available on Alter.

My contribution, México 86: El fútbol en medio de la crisis (Mexico 86: Football and urban crisis, 2013), is an exploration of the 1986 FIFA World Cup and its conflicting representations in the left-wing weekly magazine Proceso. Using archival material produced between 1982 and 1986, I analyse the public controversies about the convenience of holding such an event in the middle of an economic crisis and just after the catastrophic earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985. The chapter provides a detailed examination of Proceso’s sports journalists’ critical views concerning the commodification of football at the hands of FIFA, governments and television companies. The chapter is part of Luchas urbanas alrededor del fútbol (Urban conflict and football), edited by Fernando Carrión and María José Rodríguez (FLACSO Ecuador), and it is available on the FLACSO ANDES repository.