The capitalist production of the urban-rural interface: the case of Ricaurte in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

The urban-rural interface of Ricaurte, in Cuenca (Ecuador), is a hybrid and conflictive territorial configuration produced by the superposition of metropolitan logics of urban expansion, real estate valorization, and industrialization with local practices of agriculture, community water management, and the everyday reproduction of life. From a critical perspective grounded in the approaches of the production of space, territorial justice, and the coloniality of power, it argues that the dichotomous classification between urban land and rural land is insufficient to understand the transformations taking place in these territories. Methodologically, the research follows a descriptive qualitative design based on literature review, exploratory case analysis, direct observation, in situ field visits, and the interpretation of secondary geoinformation produced through situated academic exercises. The results show that urban expansion in Ricaurte not only fragments the territory and puts pressure on natural resources, but also subordinates key ecological and productive infrastructures, such as streams, irrigation canals, and agroproductive corridors, while weakening community forms of governance and deepening processes of sociospatial segregation. At the same time, practices such as mingas and community irrigation networks express active forms of resistance against the subordination of the territory to the logics of capital. The article concludes that recognizing the urban-rural interface as a specific territorial category makes it possible to reorient planning toward the ecological, productive, and community functions that sustain life in these spaces, thus providing a starting point for more integrated decision-making regarding the socio-environmental system.