“The City Rushes to Renovate”. Plaza de la Cultura, San José, Costa Rica (1969-1982)

Abstract

This article analyzes the interests and political and cultural disputes surrounding the Plaza de la Cultura construction in San Jose, Costa Rica from 1969 to 1982. The study was guided by the genealogical strategy proposed by Michel Foucault and by post-structuralist social theory. The systematic consultation of newspapers, minutes, audiovisuals, and photographs related to the Plaza de la Cultura during the period of interest was used. First, from this perspective, the design of this urban work responded to the project of the social democratic party, Liberación Nacional, to hasten a transformation of the city of San Jose, especially from 1970 to 1978, within the context of the entrepreneurial State. Second, it was identified that the construction and inauguration of the Plaza were in charge of the detractors of the Liberación Nacional political group, who were articulated in the figure of the Partido Coalición Unidad political party from 1978 to 1982. This process was mediated by the criticism of the latter to the entrepreneurial State, as well as by the economic depression of 1980 and the signs of neoliberalism in Costa Rica.