From Building to Development: Reconfiguring Spatial Production

This study proposes a methodological framework for spatial production based on dialectical materialism, applying it to the case of Nayón, a rural parish within Quito’s Metropolitan District. It seeks to confront the contradictions inherent in the dominant capital-oriented mode of construction through a multi-scalar analysis metropolitan, sectorial, and architectural. By employing the dialectical method, the research articulates “theses” territorial conditions, “antitheses” critical alternatives, and “syntheses” context-sensitive spatial strategies to guide more inclusive, adaptable, and sustainable architectural interventions. The “event network” is used as an analytical tool to identify variables where spatial design can mediate between social needs and structural constraints. Core contradictions center/periphery, tradition/modernity, formal/informal, and public/private are mapped to highlight patterns of socio-spatial exclusion. The study proposes a methodology that enables architecture to act as a political and developmental instrument. It advocates for spatial strategies that respond to local dynamics, encourage collective life, and resist spatial commodification. This approach reframes architecture not as an object-focused practice, but as a process capable of addressing structural inequalities through spatial design.