Elitism and Settlement Patterns in the Latin American City

Abstract

Abstract Analysis of the structural relationships between residential land use and socioeconomic class in four Latin American cities—Bogota, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; and Santiago, Chile—forms the basis of a proposed urban growth model. This simple model relates the pattern of elite residential location choice to environmental quality and, in turn, to city form and internal spatial structure. It suggests that attention to locational decisions of upper classes in Latin America cities can provide useful clues to trends in the overall pattern of urbanization, with numerous land use planning implications.