| Title: |
Para Permanencia |
| Authors: |
Burrows, Geoff G. |
| Source: |
The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration ; page 63-89 ; ISBN 9781683404132 9781683404682 |
| Publisher Information: |
University Press of Florida |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Description: |
Chapter 3 argues that the construction of the island’s first cement plant was one of the most significant public works projects of the Puerto Rican New Deal. Built by PRRA engineers between 1936 and 1938, ownership of the Cataño cement plant was transferred to the local government and run by an independent public authority. This chapter examines how locally produced cement was central to the PRRA’s urbanization plans, including its controversial “swamp drainage” and “slum clearance” programs, through which PRRA engineers sought to remove residents from improvised houses in the island’s peripheral working-class neighborhoods and resettle them into newly constructed houses and apartments. Door-to-door surveys of barriada residents conducted in Spanish by PRRA social workers offered public health officials and urban planners in Puerto Rico insight into daily life among the island’s most vulnerable citizens. |
| Document Type: |
book part |
| Language: |
English |
| ISBN: |
978-1-68340-413-2; 978-1-68340-468-2; 1-68340-413-0; 1-68340-468-8 |
| DOI: |
10.5744/florida/9781683404132.003.0004 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9781683404132.003.0004 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.F2E18D48 |
| Database: |
BASE |