Globalization and Latin American Cities

Abstract

The article presents information on the role of globalization on Latin American cities. Cities have long been enmeshed in global economic and cultural networks, so the challenge is to differentiate what is distinctive in the current processes of globalization from long-standing trends. The major cities of Latin America have played an important role in global economic and political organization since the conquest of the Americas by Spain and Portugal. Primacy is itself a feature of integration into the global economy. By the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the economies of most Latin American countries were developing as a result of their 'natural' advantage in providing primary products to Europe and the United States. Despite persisting national differences in urbanization processes in Latin America and the weak development of a globally organized system of cities, globalization does have important consequences for urban social and economic organization in the region.