Invited lecture examining self-production as an alternative model of urban development emerging through incremental growth, collaborative agreements, knowledge transfer, and community participation rather than predetermined planning. Drawing on Latin American self-produced environments and projects in Petare, the lecture argued that these territories should be understood not as disordered urbanization but as systems governed by alternative forms of organization. It also examined the central challenge of connecting the productive capacity of self-built environments with broader urban resources, infrastructures, employment, and environmental systems.