Latent Territorialities. Auto Union DKW and Fiat in the construction of the corridor Santa Fe - Santo Tomé - Sauce Viejo

Abstract

Within the framework of development policies promoted in the 1960s in Argentina, growing optimism about the automotive industry is bond to the establishment of important international firms. Among them, the cases of the German factory Auto Union AG and the Italian firm Fiat Concord SA represent a turning point in the economic, productive and mainly territorial development of the Santa Fe-Santo Tomé- Sauce Viejo corridor. The proposal of this article consists on a material and symbolic exploration of the industrial territoriality related to the automotive production as a dynamic associated with the expansion processes of Santa Fe city and its area of influence. We insert the case study in the framework of the reconceptualization proposed by the new paradigm of studies about mobility and cultural turn in the social sciences. The analysis focuses on the boom and fall cycle of the Santa Fe automotive industry between 1959 and 1981, when the old rural settlement of Sauce Viejo experienced the beginning of a process of transformation towards a territory where the mix of uses is today a characteristic feature.