Abstract
The new development agendas confirmed in the year 2015 evidence an increased global interest in cities and urban challenges. In Latin America and the Caribbean, cities have long been an established topic of study and debate. This exploration gives a brief overview of current research on urban development in the region and suggests fruitful avenues for future research. Following different ideological trends in twentieth-century urban studies, we currently see more pragmatic frameworks and a belief in technocratic solutions. Some scholars consider Latin American and Caribbean cities to be the world’s new signposts in urban development, given their role as sites of innovations in politics, architecture and urban design; we see potential here for urban scholars of the region to move beyond technocratic language. In addition, we argue for an area studies approach to these cities that uses the framework of the region as a heuristic device to unsettle global urbanist epistemologies that privilege North-to-South mobilities in both policy and theory.
Highlights
The new development agendas confirmed in the year 2015 evidence an increased global interest in cities and urban challenges
A discussion of the past and the future of Latin American and Caribbean studies, the focus of this special issue of ERLACS, would be incomplete without a reflection on urban development and theory. This exploration gives a brief overview of the current state of urban studies in the region and suggests new fruitful avenues for future research
While much earlier urban research emphasized the specific challenges of rapid urban growth faced by Latin American megacities, often addressing the negative social consequences of spatial segregation, recent studies have highlighted new types of urban form emerging in the region
Summary
The year 2015 is one in which new development agendas are being set – as we write, in late 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have just been confirmed, and the preparations for Habitat III (the UN urban development conference and agenda) are in full swing These events and the discussions surrounding them evidence an increased global interest in cities and urban challenges, especially in the Global South. A discussion of the past and the future of Latin American and Caribbean studies, the focus of this special issue of ERLACS, would be incomplete without a reflection on urban development and theory This exploration gives a brief overview of the current state of urban studies in the region and suggests new fruitful avenues for future research. There are sufficient parallels in urban trajectories, policy challenges and theories for us to analyse regional patterns of urban development and trends in urban research
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