Land and Territory in Discourses on Buen Vivir: Towards the Refounding of Latin American Urban and Regional Thought

Abstract

Rooted in the Andean cosmovision, Buen Vivir is a sociopolitical construct that proposes alternatives to hegemonic development paradigms, grounded in humanistic, ecological, and collective values. As a critique of the modern Western civilizational model, it challenges the foundations of capitalist rationality – characterized as being individualistic, utilitarian, and productivist – and the ways in which space has been produced, appropriated, and segmented under this logic. Despite its growing diffusion, the concept remains marked by semantic disputes, since prevailing interpretations have frequently marginalized its territorial dimension, even though it is essential for envisioning alternatives to the status quo. This article investigates how the notion of territory appears, both explicitly and implicitly, in discursive and theoretical currents associated with Buen Vivir, identifying different approaches with particular attention to the Ecuadorian case. By recognizing the centrality of territory within this framework, the study seeks to critically reconfigure Latin American urban and regional thought, highlighting alternative epistemologies and practices of dwelling and coexistence.