Latino Communities

The Barrio

Latino neighborhoods in U.S. cities are called barrios; other Latinos live in small apartment buildings in industrial or non-Latino neighborhoods. In cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, and San Antonio, Texas, there are miles and miles of Latino neighborhoods. The sheer size and number of Latinos cause changes in the way these city streets look and feel.

As great numbers of Latino immigrants settle in the United States, along with native-born people of Latino descent, they bring with them a tradition of urban space physically and socially different from the existing built environment of America. Although the houses and buildings in the barrio resemble other structures in the United States, Latino residents use the space in and around an existing building in their own ways. The same phenomenon occurs in other urban ethnic communities where residents redesign the existing landscape. For instance, in an area where Chinese live, the architecture is American, but Chinese business owners display merchandise outdoors in front of their shops, and people play mahjong in the park or exercise there in the morning. Most people understand the physical form and lifestyle of the typical white middle-class suburb, but they have little knowledge of the barrio landscape, aside from the violence, overcrowding, graffiti, fences around front yards, and bars in the windows.

However, there is more to the barrio than these negative stereotypes. The cultural behavior patterns of Latinos transform everyday spaces such as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, front yards, and urban spaces, and these transformations create the identity of place for people living there.

The barrio landscape feels, looks, and sounds different from non-Latino neighborhoods. Various events and social exchanges get played out in public space. Symbols such as Mexican flags and statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe abound, but people are the most important aspect of the barrio.

People

In the barrio, there are large numbers of people on the streets, and street life is an integral part of the community fabric. Streets serve as plazas where people can congregate. From day to night and from season to season, street life in the Latino community changes. Streets, sidewalks, and front yards in Latino neighborhoods are filled with different human interactions, such as talking over fences, waiting for the bus, and walking. Children are playing, men are working on cars, teenagers are congregating, and vendors are selling food and sundries from door to door.

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