Goyita, Cynthia
(2013)
Another path? The consolidation of informal settlements in Buenos Aires through the co-production of services.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis investigates the issue of co-production; that is, the joint provision of
services involving residents, the local government and private providers. Co-production is a commonly used approach to facilitate access to basic services in
informal settlements in the developing world. But, rigorous micro-econometric
evaluation of its causal effects is rare. This study uses a ‘natural experiment’,
possible due to strict technical reasons involved in the provision of gas energy to
informal neighbourhoods in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, to estimate the
effects on the social and physical dimension of residents’ investments. Estimates
are created at three co-production stages: an initial social interaction stage to
introduce the service; the connection stage, and; an impact stage several years
after programme completion. The research measures effect on housing
improvements, participatory involvement associated with the internalisation of
benefits, and suggests the presence of collective capacity for furthering
collaborative efforts. The latter can be associated with the significant improvement
in the residents’ reported trust in neighbourhood organisations at the different
implementation stages. Importantly, the research measures residual effects by legal
tenure conditions. Co-production has contributed to an incremental effect only for
informal residents’ reported level of trust in the local public sector. Trust in the
family, rather than generalised trust, appears as a significant residual effect of the
intervention that is positively correlated with the undertaking of housing
improvements.
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