Urbanization: Concepts, Trends and Analysis in Three Latin American Cities (original) (raw)
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Journal of Geographic Information System, 2013
Latin American cities, like those from North America and Europe, experience problems of urban sprawl. However, few studies have dedicated exclusively to this phenomenon in specific cities, and this omission is particularly noticeable regarding cities not considered among the megalopolis of the continent. The present work analyzes urban sprawl through an urban form in the Concepción Metropolitan Area, Chile, between 1990 and 2009, considering local aspects that may have played a role in the process. The main empirical results obtained from this study reveal a metropolitan area that has expanded intensely over a 20-year period, growing from 9000 hectares to more than 17,000 ha for a 96% increment in the built-up area. The new urban surfaces consolidate a central conurbation that strengthens the role of the main downtowns, with less-intense occupation towards the sub-centers but in a structure that follows the transportation infrastructure. Over the last 20 years, the distance between the shapes has grown progressively by around 2 km, increasing the size of the ellipse by more than 1000 km 2. In particular the complexity of the urbanized surfaces has grown, becoming more irregular in shape and less compact as they come to occupy larger areas. So our principal findings include: an increment of nearly 100% in the urban surface, the importance of a polycentric urban structure in the process of consolidation as a support for analyzing different spatial dynamics, and the growing morphological irregularity of the territory of the sprawl.
Cities, 2007
Over the last decades, in the main Chilean cities the development of residential quarters with restricted access increased remarkably. This trend has occurred parallel to the construction of various features that significantly modified the organization of urban space: privatised highways, large retail centers and enclaves of advanced services. This article analyses these elements on the basis of geographical information systems. This makes it possible to demonstrate different kinds of urban fabric and their impact in a comparison of the two largest metropolitan areas of Chile. As similar structures and processes are reported from other Latin American countries, it seems that urban development has reached a new structural phase: after the compact colonial city, sectoral pattern and bi-polar city fragmentation are the key words to explain the internal pattern of Latin American cities. Thus, the findings of the study present a new model of the development of Latin American cities.
Latin American Urban Development into the 21 st Century
2011
This paper argues for a more systemic engagement with Latin American cities, contending it is necessary to reconsider their unity in order to nuance the 'fractured cities' perspective that has widely come to epitomise the contemporary urban moment in the region. It begins by offering an overview of regional urban development trends, before exploring how the underlying imaginary of the city has critically shifted over the past half century. Focusing in particular on the way that slums and shantytowns have been conceived, it traces how the predominant conception of the Latin American city moved from a notion of unity to a perception of fragmentation, highlighting how this had critically negative ramifications for urban development agendas, and concludes with a call for a renewed vision of Latin American urban life.
Determinants of urban sprawl in Latin America: evidence from Santiago de Chile
2021
Urban sprawl has been widely discussed in regard of its economic, political, social and environmental impacts. Consequently, several planning policies have been placed to stop—or at least restrain—sprawling development. However, most of these policies have not been successful at all as anti-sprawl policies partially address only a few determinants of a multifaceted phenomenon. This includes processes of extended suburbanisation, peri-urbanisation and transformation of fringe/belt areas of city-regions. Using as a case study the capital city of Chile—Santiago—thirteen determinants of urban sprawl are identified as interlinked at the point of defining Santiago's sprawling geography as a distinctive space that deserves planning and policy approaches in its own right. Unpacking these determinants and the policy context within which they operate is important to better inform the design and implementation of more comprehensive policy frameworks to manage urban sprawl and its impacts.
LATIN AMERICAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT INTO THE 21 ST CENTURY: Towards a Renewed Perspective on the City
Working Papers, 2011
This study has been prepared within the UNU-WIDER project on Development in an Urban World, directed by Jo Beall, Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, and Ravi Kanbur. UNU-WIDER acknowledges the financial contributions to the research programme by the governments of Denmark (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Finland (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Sweden (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency-Sida) and the United Kingdom (Department for International Development).
Urban policies , city management and fast urban growth in Argentine cities
2012
Briefly, the main moments of fast urban growth in Argentina are the end of 19 Century – beginning of 20 Century due to immigration to the biggest cities (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Mendoza and Córdoba); the 50’s – 60’s due to industrialization growth, also in the biggest cities (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba); and the 70 ́s – 80’s due to the development of Patagonian cities (Neuquén, Bariloche, Ushuaia), Buenos Aires conurbation and other cities as result of inner migrations.
Contemporary Engineering Sciences, 2018
The urban areas of Colombian cities in recent decades have undergone profound changes due to the effects associated with accelerated demographic growth due to particular social and economic determinants. Informality and illegality have negatively characterized the consolidation and urban development of the country's main cities, triggering processes that become more complex as a result of the accumulation of problems and their increase given the lack of timely actions. Consolidation routines and urban development have been territorialized, becoming physical-spatial in terms of urban patterns. This way, the territorial transformation processes can be visualized and understood. From these relationships and placing the use and nature of the surfaces as a basis. By understanding the city as a sum of territories with spatial characteristics (physical, social and economic determinants among others, and in the Colombian case where communes are defined by administra-638 Gustavo Adolfo Arteaga et al. tive management), aspects (such as area, population, density urban) can be contrasted to demarcate the specific scenarios that describe urban development. The municipality of Santiago de Cali and its communes are hereby studied.