Social integration in the built environment: an approach from Quito

The literature on social integration assumes that certain characteristics of the built environment can mediate the interaction between different social groups. To locate itself in this debate, the article questions how the presence of barriers and distancing devices is experienced socially in areas with a social mix. To this end, a case study is explored in the north-western part of the city of Quito, where an intergroup alliance was recently created between its residents to oppose a public mobility project. A six-month fieldwork reveals that this integration altered the way in which groups perceive their environment through their social ties. In this way, the article invites us to think that social approaches and some intergroup responses to common problems positively affect the reduction of material borders, aspects that are usually seen as rigid characteristics of the space built in areas of social mix.