Abstract Barrios: The Crises of Latinx Visibility in Cities

Johana Londoño examines how Latinized urban landscapes are made palatable for white Americans by abstracting barrio design elements to manage a long-standing urban crisis of Latinx belonging. These landscapes range from idealized notions of authentic Puerto Rican culture to counteracting white flight. Abstracted barrio culture and aesthetics sustain the economic and cultural viability of normalized, white, and middle-class urban spaces.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 29 September 2020
Publisher: Duke University Press

Abstract: Barrios Johana LondoÑo explores how Latinized urban landscapes are made appealing to white Americans. She observes that these landscapes emerge when whites perceive a threat from Latinx populations, commonly referred to as barrios. LondoÑo employs archival research, interviews, and visual analysis of barrio built environments to demonstrate how urban planners, architects, designers, policy makers, business owners, and other brokers have utilized abstracted elements from barrio design, such as spatial layouts or bright colors, to safely "Latinize" cities and address the long-standing urban crisis of Latinx belonging. The resulting built environments have ranged from idealized notions of authentic Puerto Rican culture in the interior design of New York City's public housing in the 1950s, aimed at reducing concerns over Puerto Rican settlement, to the Fiesta Marketplace in downtown Santa Ana, California, constructed in the 1980s to counteract white flight. Ultimately, LondoÑo shows that abstracted barrio culture and aesthetics play a crucial role in sustaining the economic and cultural viability of normalized, white, and middle-class urban spaces.

Weight: 706g
Dimension: 154 x 229 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478009658