Presentation: Toward an anthropology of condominium life: social fabrics of contemporary dwelling

Abstract

This article discusses the growing relevance of condominiums as a form of dwelling and a contemporary urban phenomenon. The expansion of this type of housing development, promoted both by the private market and by public housing policies, reveals complex dynamics that articulate socio-spatial fragmentation, the disciplining of poverty, and the reconfiguration of forms of sociability. The main objective of the dossier presented in this article is to understand how different condominium configurations—ranging from Barra da Tijuca to Itaboraí, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, including Brasília, São Paulo, and also audiovisual productions on streaming platforms—express multiple meanings of contemporary dwelling. The methodological approach is predominantly qualitative and ethnographic, combining case studies, analyses of public policies, field observations, and examinations of cultural productions. The articles articulate empirical and theoretical perspectives in order to examine everyday practices, neighborhood relations, symbolic disputes, and the role of digital networks in shaping these experiences. The findings show that condominiums operate as urban  microcosms in which regimes of authority, circuits of reciprocity, strategies of resistance, and projects of distinction intertwine. More than segregated enclaves, they constitute hybrid urban spaces that reveal tensions between enclosure and sociability, control and autonomy, exclusion and belonging. The article concludes that understanding contemporary dwelling requires attention to the social threads woven between walls, screens, and neighborly interactions, recognizing the condominium as a privileged analytical device for examining urban transformations, emerging ways of life, and the challenges of living in contemporary cities.