Order in progressive construction: Manifestation based on housing in two barrios (slums) of the city of Caracas

Abstract

In Venezuela, the name of “barrio” is given to the housing agglomeration set without any city-planning order on a land area that, most of the times, has been illegally occupied. In the barrio zones it is the family that undertakes, from the beginning, the gradual construction of its house, without any intermediary and with scarcely qualified construction workers. This dynamic occupation and following house construction is part of many Venezuelan cities’ growth. In this context, featured by the absence of city planning and lack of building control, is it possible to see any evidence of housing progress? The answer to this doubt is developed in the following paper. With a sample of 251 houses, located at two barrios of the city of Caracas, a way of proceeding was set for the housing construction’s progress, both under its living setting and in the structural quality. Both results offer the manifestation of an order in progressive construction of housing at barrios located at mountainous lands.