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Ricardo Greene

Universidad San Sebastian, Escuela de Arquitectura, Faculty Member

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Sociologist, MSc in Urban Development and PhD in Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Visual Anthropology | Urban Sociology | Domestic objects | Elites | Racism | Experimental Film | Non-Metropolitan Cities | Domestic work.

Director of Bifurcaciones, Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, www.bifurcaciones.cl

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Papers by Ricardo Greene

“Nuestro norte es el sur”: La migración inversa de sectores creativos como modo de reintegrar trabajo, creación y vida familiar

by Carla Pinochet Cobos and Ricardo Greene

Revista del Museo de Antropología, 2025

Este artículo explora los desplazamientos migratorios de productores culturales desde Santiago al... more Este artículo explora los desplazamientos migratorios de productores culturales desde Santiago al sur de Chile como una práctica de reinvención del trabajo creativo. Basado en una investigación cualitativa, analizamos los relatos y motivaciones de un conjunto de artistas, intelectuales y trabajadores de sectores creativos. Estas migraciones, conceptualizadas como “migración inversa”, emergen en el contexto de tensiones laborales y personales propias del trabajo creativo; en particular, la segmentación entre trabajo y creatividad, y entre trabajo y vida familiar. La investigación destaca cómo los desplazamientos hacia el sur articulan un ideal de integración vital que contrasta con las condiciones de vida metropolitanas, impulsadas por la búsqueda de una experiencia laboral menos fragmentada. Además, la conexión con el entorno natural sureño permite a estos trabajadores proyectar una relación simbiótica con el paisaje, abordando inquietudes ecológicas y búsquedas espirituales. A la vez, sin embargo, el artículo reconoce las contradicciones inherentes en estas migraciones, donde persisten las dinámicas de hiperproductividad y precarización que caracterizan el trabajo cultural contemporáneo, ahora en un contexto de vida “desconectado”.

Heirloom coats and jackets: The Importance of Affection for the Design of Emotionally Durable Garments

by Ricardo Greene and Tomas Errazuriz

The International Journal of Design in Society, 2024

In this research, a qualitative study was conducted on a group of fourteen owners of inherited co... more In this research, a qualitative study was conducted on a group of fourteen owners of inherited coats and jackets, to analyze the peculiarities that arise in the relationship between them and their garments, on the understanding that these garments are, on the one hand, relics associated with an emotional value, both personal and collective, related to the history they carry and, on the other hand, practical garments, designed to shelter and protect the users. Thus, through a process of in-depth interviews and a subsequent
text analysis that identified common topics, a categorization of these links between people and garments is proposed, establishing patterns of use, care, and perception of ownership, thus recognizing attributes and situations with relevance for the discipline of design. From the point of view of this discipline, the need to develop new products that stimulate emotional attachment and, therefore, the willingness to keep them longer and postpone their replacement, thus slowing down the wheels of production, has been proposed as an alternative resource to recycling or similar dynamics. The research results made it possible to establish the criteria of durability, timelessness, repairability, and adaptability as key considerations in designing this type of garment, thus enhancing its ability to become an heirloom.

THE THINGS THEY ARE A-CHANGIN': REINVENTING DAILY OBJECTS DURING THE CHILEAN 2019 REVOLT

by Ricardo Greene and Tomas Errazuriz

Visual Communication Journal, 2024

In October 2019, fuelled by a collective discontent with the lifestyles and inequalities generate... more In October 2019, fuelled by a collective discontent with the lifestyles and inequalities generated by the capitalist model, social protests took place in the Chilean streets. People staged massive demonstrations in every city demanding profound changes to the system. Known as the 'Estallido Social' (Social Explosion), the demonstrations paralysed an important part of the country and, after a few weeks of revolt, managed to initiate a new Constitution-making process. These events triggered a process in which the country was re-imagined, subjectivities were rewritten and objects and the environment were heavily transformed. This study places its focus on a set of industrially produced objects, whose original functions were subverted in the streets to enable new uses and meanings aligned with the Social Explosion. Kitchen items such as pots and ladles were used to make a lot of noise; road signs and pieces of urban furniture were relocated to block the streets; and gas cylinders and oil drums were reshaped for protection against police forces. While specialized literature generally seeks to recognize the new social forms and models that emerge from the crisis, this essay aims to reflect on the ways in which the relationship with the everyday environment is transformed in the midst of a social crisis, and how operations of resignification and reinterpretation may also be necessary to bring about more profound changes. As such, this study aims to characterize these operations of mutation (of bending, crumpling, scratching, wetting, moving, cutting, twisting, hitting, breaking, cracking, tricking, whipping, throwing, crushing, dragging, drilling and burning), and from there to move towards elucidating the practical and symbolic repercussions that this new material reality has had on the social body and daily life.

Second-hand should come first. Sustainable home consumption beyond the market

by Florencia Muñoz Ebensperger and Ricardo Greene

Journal of Consumer Culture, 2024

Studies on sustainable consumption have predominantly focused on first-hand consumers, whereas re... more Studies on sustainable consumption have predominantly focused on first-hand consumers, whereas research on secondhand consumers has been centered on the act of purchase. This has involved investigations into specific venues such as secondhand markets and thrift shops or the motivations, barriers, and meanings behind such acquisition behaviors. This article strives to enhance the understanding of secondhand consumption within the framework of sustainable development in peripheral countries and in contexts with a limited access to new products. Through interviews conducted in different households across the Metropolitan Region of Chile, we delved into the diverse channels through which used items are exchanged-including waste picking, inheritance, and sharing-.Thefindings underscore the pivotal role these objects play in numerous households and highlight how certain spatial and social factors-such as urban density, social networks, land use, family structure, and emotional attachment to belongings-are crucial in promoting the sustainable exchange of secondhand goods outside of the market economy.

Second-hand should come first. Sustainable home consumption beyond the market

by Ricardo Greene and Tomas Errazuriz

Journal of Consumer Culture, 2024

Studies on sustainable consumption have predominantly focused on first-hand consumers, whereas re... more Studies on sustainable consumption have predominantly focused on first-hand consumers, whereas research on secondhand consumers has been centered on the act of purchase. This has involved investigations into specific venues such as secondhand markets and thrift shops or the motivations, barriers, and meanings behind such acquisition behaviors. This article strives to enhance the understanding of secondhand consumption within the framework of sustainable development in peripheral countries and in contexts with a limited access to new products. Through interviews conducted in different households across the Metropolitan Region of Chile, we delved into the diverse channels through which used items are exchanged-including waste picking, inheritance, and sharing-. The findings underscore the pivotal role these objects play in numerous households and highlight how certain spatial and social factors-such as urban density, social networks, land use, family structure, and emotional attachment to belongings-are crucial in promoting the sustainable exchange of secondhand goods outside of the market economy.

Keeping the sanctuary pure: Movements and frictions in an Argentine gated community

Journal of Urban Affairs, 2024

Located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Nordelta is one of the largest gated communities in Lat... more Located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Nordelta is one of the largest gated communities in Latin America. To produce a purified sanctuary, the Nordelta compound has deployed fenced walls, guards, barriers, CCTV cameras, dogs, movement sensors and a dozen other power mechanisms aimed at controlling human and non-human movements and behaviors in and around the compound. Its three accesses gates are crossed every day by thousands of cars, buses, students, visitors, workers, animals and objects. Looking closely at the issues of exchange and circulation, this article addresses the following questions: which entities-humans, objects and information-can access the compound and how; which cannot; and which are prevented from leaving. Further, it analyses the normalization processes through which potentially harmful entities must go through to be accepted inside Nordelta. The analysis not only reviews these dispositives but also considers the tactics devised and deployed by propietarios, workers and visitors to avoid, re-appropriate and/or resist them.

Caring, Repairing, and Reimagining- Experiences from the Rural World

by Tomas Errazuriz and Ricardo Greene

Diseña, 2023

In the era of the Anthropocene and amidst a severe environmental crisis, part of humanity has set... more In the era of the Anthropocene and amidst a severe environmental crisis, part of humanity has set out to imagine new ways of addressing global warming, hyper- production of goods, and massive waste generation. Academia and public policies have placed their focus primarily on urban areas, neglecting the experiences that the rural world can offer us. Reversing this trend, this article focuses on a rural sector of the Central Valley of Chile to reveal how, through daily and ‘artisanal’ practices, it is possible to reimagine notions such as creativity, innovation, and adaptability, in the face of changing environments. Specifically, it recognizes the dynamic way in which the inhabitants of rural sectors comprehend objects and the environment; their particular way of living space and time within the local geography; and the role that their tools, technologies, practices, and knowledge play in the daily production of their homes.

The conquest of the suburbs: racial purification in Argentine gated communities

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2023

Rather than a radical new way of entangling space and society fashioned by late capitalism and ne... more Rather than a radical new way of entangling space and society fashioned by late capitalism and neoliberalism, gated communities are the latest iteration of a long chain of power mechanisms devised to reproduce racial hierarchies and to defend "proper citizens" against internal and external enemies. Based on ethnographic data produced in Nordelta, one of Latin America's largest gated communities, this article concentrates on a twofold process through which Nordelteños produce their social and physical spaces: first, on the relationships they establish with their surroundings, negating its natural and cultural dimensions, and second, on the different technologies they have deployed to exclude, monitor and sanction the nearby "improper" population. In a country that has never ceased to define its legitimate citizenry upon their own category of "whiteness", this analysis contributes to understand how Argentine gated communities entangle elites, racism and segregation to produce a space of exception.

“Open” and “Closed” Homes: Sustainability and the Aesthetic Ecologies of Things

Home Cultures, 2022

This article explores the relationship between the aesthetic ecologies of homes in different soci... more This article explores the relationship between the aesthetic ecologies of homes in different socioeconomic sectors, and their disposition towards conserving or discarding objects. More specifically, it analyses how domestic practices, the ways homes are produced and maintained, can impinge on a greater or lesser propensity towards sustainable forms of life. Based on qualitative work carried out in homes of upper and working classes in the city of Santiago, Chile, we distinguish three relevant dimensions that would explain such tendency: materiality, functionality, and temporality. Whereas upper class homes are characterised by more "closed" and restricted ecologies, that strongly resist sustainable practices, working class homes present a more open aesthetics ecologies, with lineal temporalities and multifunctional spaces that explain to a great extent their propensity towards the coexistence of diverse materials and objects.

Futuros imaginados. Perspectivas descentradas en torno al oficio etnográfico

by Carla Pinochet Cobos and Ricardo Greene

Antípoda, 2022

Este artículo busca elaborar una reflexión en torno a los modos en que la práctica etnográfica... more Este artículo busca elaborar una reflexión en torno a los modos en que la práctica etnográfica, constituida en sus desarrollos clásicos al alero de la disciplina antropológica, experimenta un conjunto de tensiones, desafíos y transformaciones en sus ejercicios contemporáneos. En el marco de una intensificación de los cruces inter y transdisciplinares, y en medio de los acelerados y complejos tránsitos hacia el mundo digital, la etnografía debe replantear sus modos de hacer en tanto método, enfoque y práctica escritural. Se trata de negociaciones no exentas de conflictos y que nos llaman a comprender cómo las actuales condiciones de producción de lo etnográfico han favorecido la emergencia de nuevas formas de estar-allí. En este texto, que sirve de introducción al presente dosier de la revista y se construye con base en la lectura y discusión de literatura especializada, nos interrogamos acerca de las actuales zonas de fricción de la etnografía como práctica epistemológica, ético-política, metodológica y estética, al tiempo que constatamos los bordes porosos de sus definiciones canónicas y avizoramos perspectivas críticas que allanan el camino hacia los futuros de la etnografía.

Gestión de la pandemia a múltiples escalas: tensiones entre centro y periferia

Bitácora, 2022

La pandemia del COVID-19 ha impulsado una serie de transformaciones a nivel social, político y cu... more La pandemia del COVID-19 ha impulsado una serie de transformaciones a nivel social, político y cultural que tensionan los arreglos territoriales de Argentina. En base a un trabajo etnográfico conducido en dos casos de estudio del corredor turístico nacional, el presente artículo explora cómo la crisis sanitaria en su etapa inicial —en tanto momento analítico estratégico— y la incertidumbre a la que condujo, actualizaron discusiones históricas sobre las relaciones entre la capital y las periferias. Se analiza cómo diversos elementos asociados al «coronaéxodo» metropolitano generaron fricciones, sinergias y prácticas de resistencia en territorios no-metropolitanos, las que problematizaron la fragilidad de un modelo político-territorial federal cuyas virtudes aparecen en teoría pero que, en la práctica, son entorpecidas por las fronteras político-espaciales, y sofocadas por la concentración de recursos y relaciones de dominación. En particular, detectamos cómo se fueron re-significando los imaginarios territoriales tradicionales, cobrando la gran ciudad un rostro amenazante y lo no-metropolitano un cariz de santuario inmunológico. Ello desató flujos migracionales que, a su vez, gatillaron la implementación de políticas nacionales y locales que combinaron medidas punitivas y disciplinadoras, acoplándose y desacoplándose para atender o prevenir la urgencia sanitaria.

The Countless Lives of Newspapers and the Right to Repurpose

by Tomas Errazuriz and Ricardo Greene

Design and Culture, 2021

For the past decade, the environmental agenda has been unavoidable for social actors such as gove... more For the past decade, the environmental agenda has been unavoidable for social actors such as governments, NGOs, companies, and individuals. The climate crisis has also reached the field of design, demanding production and disposal processes that do not take a toll on the planet. This article focuses on the overlooked strategy of repurposing, through which everyday consumers transform and subvert simple objects, providing them with novel functions and a new lifespan. To understand how certain elements of design may affect consumers’ willingness to reinvent things, we take newspapers as a case study, giving their plasticity and their many diverse and unexpected functions. Throughout the analysis, a range of physical and social features are singled out, offering novel paths to sustainable design and reflecting on how the industry may prepare objects in advance to be reconfigured at the hands of their users.

Ni urbano ni rural: lo 'citadino' como tipología para pensar la ciudad no metropolitana

by Ricardo Greene and Lucia de Abrantes

EURE, 2021

El par urbano/rural ha sido la base desde la cual se ha construido el pen-samiento espacial de Oc... more El par urbano/rural ha sido la base desde la cual se ha construido el pen-samiento espacial de Occidente, usado no solo para oponer distintas formas de ocu-pación territorial, sino también posiciones contrarias en el proceso modernizador; discursos e imaginarios donde el campo ocupa lo primitivo, tradicional y restrictivo, y la metrópolis lo moderno, versátil y tolerante. Intentando superar esta dicotomía, este artículo ofrece un modelo más acorde a la complejidad de nuestros arreglos espaciales, proponiendo pensar cada espacio como el ensamblaje de piezas de distinto cuño, como urbano o rural, pero concentrándose en definir las características esenciales de un tercer tipo de territorio: las ciudades no metropolitanas. A partir de un trabajo cuantitativo y cualitativo realizado en Chile y en Argentina, se plantean cuatro variables centrales que configurarían el modo de vida de estos territorios, al que hemos llamado 'citadino': la escala, el ritmo, la población y las jerarquías.

The urban/rural binary has been the basis from which Western's spatial thinking has been built. This dichotomy is not only used to oppose different forms of territorial occupation, but also to organize positions in the modernizing process. If the countryside is a primitive place where the notion of the traditional, poor and restrictive dominates, the modern metropolis is a versatile, rich and tolerant locus where civilizations bloom. Trying to overcome this dichotomy, and offering a model adjusted to the complexity of our spatial arrangements, this paper proposes that each space is made of different kinds of pieces, such as urban or rural, but focuses on defining the essential characteristics of a third type of territory: the non-metropolitan cities. Based on quantitative and qualitative work conducted in Chile and Argentina, it proposes four central variables that shape the territories' way-of-life, which we have called 'citadino': scale, rhythm, population and hierarchies.

Nos/otros: Fantasías geográficas, fricciones y desengaños

ARQ, 2020

La pandemia ha fortalecido viejos discursos contra la metrópolis y activado deseos de huida hacia... more La pandemia ha fortalecido viejos discursos contra la metrópolis y activado deseos de huida hacia sectores de menor escala, idealizados en su paisaje y sociabilidad. Quienes migran, sin embargo, se encuentran con una realidad que no calza con sus fantasías, y a falta de planificación institucional, su arribo termina tensionando las morfologías, arquitecturas, temporalidades y sociabilidades de los territorios de acogida. En base a una investigación etnográfica desarrollada en dos localidades turísticas de Argentina, nos preguntamos por los modos en que se produce el encuentro de subjetividades diversas, siguiendo pistas que permitan construir un territorio común.

The Bright Side of Coronavirus. Reinventing home during quarantine

Entanglements, 2020

Coronavirus arrived unleashing a nightmare of disease, poverty and death. At the same time, it br... more Coronavirus arrived unleashing a nightmare of disease, poverty and death. At the same time, it brought a glimpse of hope; not so much about the present, but about the future, about the world we can build. There is no doubt that the interruption of “normality” has forced us to rethink the way we relate to our things. From one day to the next, our physical space shrank and what used to happen in the street, at work, in the cafe or in the gym, became part of home. Work tables were improvised and chairs were adapted to withstand long days. The dining room table multiplied its functions, zoning and specializing its cover between meals, games, business and studying. This article reflect on such processes and mutations.

Ciudad y segregación vapuleadas por el capitalismo: Crítica de los enfoques idealistas

by Ricardo Greene and Alejandra Rasse

Revista Urbano, 2020

Siempre ha sido difícil definir qué es una ciudad y ahora lo es más porque el auge de los negocio... more Siempre ha sido difícil definir qué es una ciudad y ahora lo es más porque el auge de los negocios inmobiliarios la ha tenido sometida a una transformación incesante, incluyendo sus áreas periurbanas. Con ello, también la segregación ha adquirido un estado de mutación constante y, de hecho, ya no parece estabilizarse, como en el pasado, en patrones espaciales reconocibles. Esto ha estado sucediendo en las ciudades chilenas, como en las de muchos otros países. Resulta comprensible, así, la tentación de sustituir las definiciones físico-geográficas y planimétricas, tanto de ciudad como de la segregación, por otras que enfatizan los procesos. ¿Quiere decir, entonces, que la dimensión físico-espacial de la ciudad carece de importancia como, implícita o explícitamente, argumentan los economistas neoliberales y los urbanistas apegados a enfoques estructural-deterministas? Es cierto que la pandemia del COVID19 hace evidentes las flaquezas de estos enfoques que desconsideran lo espacial, pero eso no resta relevancia al examen de su armado teórico, el que se abordará aquí con base en una revisión crítica de la literatura especializada y en testimonios de especialistas recogidos por un estudio sobre segregación en tres ciudades chilenas, del cual este artículo es resultado. Concluiremos estas páginas planteando la necesidad de reforzar la investigación empírica de la ciudad y la segregación, lo mismo que nuestra atención a sus dimensiones subjetivas.

Descartar o acumular, he ahí el dilema / To discard or to accumulate, that is the question

by Tomas Errazuriz and Ricardo Greene

Diseña, 2020

Durante los últimos años han cobrado fuerza las tendencias minimalistas de organización del ho... more Durante los últimos años han cobrado fuerza las tendencias minimalistas de organización del hogar, que tienen a la conocida organizadora japonesa Marie Kondo como principal “gurú”. Sus postulados promueven la construcción de espacios domésticos ideales a partir de la generación de vínculos afectivos con las cosas, llamando al descarte de todo lo que no produzca felicidad (spark joy). A partir de una investigación realizada en hogares de Santiago, destinada a comprender las diversas formas en que se guardan, valoran y disponen los objetos en las casas, este artículo reflexiona sobre las formas de concebir y habitar lo doméstico en Chile. Se discute la pertinencia y adaptación de estas nuevas tendencias minimalistas que llaman al descarte en hogares que, contrariamente, parecen orientarse por una ética del cuidado y la conservación de sus objetos domésticos, valorando su condición temporal y dinámica, así como su participación en una ecología de bienes.

Long Live my Objects: Silent Practices to Avoid Obsolescence

by Ricardo Greene and Tomas Errazuriz

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2020

Today specialists agree on the importance of studying the practices of reuse and reduction or slo... more Today specialists agree on the importance of studying the practices of reuse and reduction or slow consumption in the domestic space. In response to this need, this research seeks to understand the extent to which daily consumption practices influence the life trajectory of objects. Specifically, the project seeks to recognize, analyze and value everyday practices related to the use, care, repair, reuse and storage of objects of daily consumption, which favor conservation and influence the willingness to consume new replacement products. The ethnographic study, uses in-depth interviews, participant observation and use of audiovisual tools to investigate the relationships that a diverse group of people have with their everyday objects. Limiting the study to people who reside in different communes of the city of Santiago.

Ruinación, un proceso oculto a plena vista

Mucho énfasis se ha puesto en discutir las ruinas en su condición de sustantivo, como un escena... more Mucho énfasis se ha puesto en discutir las ruinas en su condición de sustantivo, como un escenario, resultado o producto cuya imagen presente contrasta con su forma pretérita. Tomando un camino diferente, este artículo discute las particularidades de la ruina como parte del proceso inevitable de ‘ruinación’, que afecta sin distinción a todo el entorno construido, logrando, en última instancia, que lo edificado pierda la organización de sus partes, su función original y sus significados. Buscando ampliar el campo de sentido asociado a este concepto, se sugiere revisar las estrategias clásicas de representación que favorecen su objetualización, monumentalización o estetización, y promover representaciones que tengan por objeto la ruina como resultado siempre cambiante de un proceso de permanente deterioro. Para ejemplificar este giro metodológico y conceptual, se discute material producido por el proyecto Esto es Talca, iniciativa que busca capturar, en series fotográficas, el avance del tiempo sobre el entorno construido.

Pensar, dibujar, matar la ciudad: orden, planificación y competitividad en el urbanismo moderno

This paper offers a critical view on contemporary urban planning. With this aim, an itinerary sta... more This paper offers a critical view on contemporary urban planning. With this aim, an itinerary starting with the process of rise and fall of rational-normative paradigm is traced, continuing with the birth of strategic planning, the discussion of urban reaches of competitive ethos, city marketing and urban cosmetic, finishing with an analysis of international rankings under the informational city paradigm. Using these elements, the paper ends with an analysis of current Santiago.