Latin American Metropolitan Areas Research Articles

Unravelling urban typologies in Latin American cities: Integrating socioeconomic factors and urban configurations across scales

The complex and multifaceted characteristics of urban expansion contribute to increasing challenges for policy-makers in planning and managing metropolitan areas worldwide. Typologies have been helpful in better describing and understanding the differentiated paths of urban development. This research introduces a novel classification that integrates multidimensional growth and development components by employing hierarchical clustering analysis. We present urban typologies at the city and municipal levels for 18 Latin American metropolitan areas, with a total of 253 municipalities. Metrics include built-up area, urban density, fragmentation, compactness and types of new built-up land (infilling, edge extension and leapfrog) and several demographic and economic information. The investigated cities and municipalities revealed varying degrees of compactness or sprawl, with several implications for socioeconomic conditions. Three main types emerged: 1) compact, dense areas associated with wealthier socioeconomic conditions and a trend of sprawl (at the municipal and city levels), 2) dense, infilling areas with vulnerable socioeconomic conditions (at the city level), and 3) fragmented areas with vulnerable socioeconomic conditions (at the municipal and city levels). These types represent a unique combination of urban characteristics, allowing the understanding of the interlinkage of built-up changes with socioeconomic indicators, which can help to identify challenges and opportunities for managing Latin American cities.

Urban agroecology enhances agrobiodiversity and resilient, biocultural food systems. The case of the semi-dryland and medium-sized Querétaro City, Mexico

Small-scale agroecological practices in the urban areas of Querétaro, México, as in other mid-sized cities, could maintain agrobiodiversity pools and sufficient productivity for a food sovereignty baseline. The application of agroecological principles fosters agrobiodiversity and socio-ecological resilience in urban food production. Emerging urban gardens result from an immediate necessity for food that does not appear in local statistics, nor is there any account of them in any cadastral source or land register of Querétaro City. Based on studies of 28 urban gardens, we survey and analyze farming practices using socio-ecological resilience methodologies and the Diagnostic Survey of Agroecological Practices. We find that the agroecological management of urban gardens results in significantly more species richness than in conventionally managed plots, likely due to the multifunctional purposes associated with biocultural memory. The number of social actors participating in agroecological management is increasing. It represents an urban strategy of resilience that contributes to enhancing the microclimate and nutrient cycling, as well as to improving water management and biodiversity. Results also indicate that gardens of approximately 200 m2 harbor the highest levels of agrobiodiversity. This area size for home vegetable production appears optimal for user-friendly management practices in urban settings and could represent the minimum benchmark for a family and a goal for urban planning and policy recommendations. Urban gardens contribute to the adaptive capacities of city dwellers to enhance their food security and sovereignty. Therefore, given that 70% of the national population face some level of food insecurity, we argue that, along with the protection of land-use rights, the promotion of a diverse urban landscape could improve long-term socio-ecological and food supply resilience. Additionally, urban gardens promote neighborhood social inclusion and affordable access to food. The empirical results and insights from this study in Querétaro can inform land-use policies for urban agriculture more broadly, especially in Latin American metropolitan areas.

Analysing the treatment of environmental justice and nature-based solutions in the Urban Climate Action Plans of Latin American metropolitan areas

ABSTRACT Urban Climate Action Plans are instruments increasingly being used by governments to identify vulnerabilities and propose technological, engineered and ecosystem-based actions for adapting to and mitigating climate change effects. However, as the outcomes of the climate response could asymmetrically affect marginalised communities already more impacted by climate-related hazards, researchers and practitioners have expressed concerns regarding the lack of attention given to the environmental justice (EJ) implications of climate action planning. In this context, this study uses content analysis to review the inclusion and framing of EJ concerns in Urban Climate Action Plans from 30 Latin American cities as a less studied and particularly vulnerable world region. Moreover, we investigate whether and how these documents translate justice concerns into concrete strategies, with particular emphasis given to the use of Nature-based solutions. We found that, through the years, the concerns related to EJ are more prominent but are rarely concretised into specific actions. When they are, these actions are less framed within systemic policy interventions and more into educational and capacity-building strategies. Finally, most planning documents frame Nature-based solutions for biodiversity conservation purposes, forgoing the opportunity to adopt the socially transformative potential of the term for enhancing sustainable and just futures.

Closing the cycle? Potential and limitations of Water and Sanitation Safety Plans (WSSPs) for Latin American metropolitan areas

Abstract Water and sanitation management faces major challenges due to the rapid urban growth of metropolitan areas and the resulting pressure on water resources. Metropolitan areas often combine formal and informal water and sanitation services and regularly face shortages, leakages, and other situations involving risk to users and the environment. This work presents an integrated approach for the development and implementation of a Water and Sanitation Safety Plan (WSSP) for metropolitan areas, especially in developing countries. The plan allows for the assessment of all the risks associated with the components of the urban water cycle by means of a semi-quantitative approach. In the case study described, the overall risk estimated was 37.2% (44.0 and 30.3% for the drinking water supply and sanitation sub-systems, respectively). Highest risk values were obtained for components of water treatment (53.0%) and wastewater treatment (51.7%). Our assessment took into account both formal and informal sanitation components of the water and wastewater management cycle and included a multi-institutional analysis of the entire system. Results obtained may contribute to establishing new policies and guidelines for the protection of public health and the local environment in our case study and other areas of the region with similar contexts and comparable institutional settings.

Waste Political Settlements in Colombia and Chile: Power, Inequality and Informality in Recycling

ABSTRACTThere are stark differences between the waste recycling literature from the global North and that from the global South. The literature from the global North tends to focus on empirical analyses of existing municipal recycling services and rarely considers institutional factors. When it does, the theoretical approaches adopted are limited, especially regarding the role of informal institutions. In contrast, recycling literature from the global South does focus on informal institutions, but it does so by concentrating on the struggles of waste pickers rather than on the performance of waste management services provided by local authorities. This divergence in the literature suggests the need for an analytical framework that integrates institutions and recycling performance. This article analyses waste disposal regimes in two Latin American metropolitan areas, Medellín (Colombia) and Santiago (Chile), and explores the link between income inequality and recycling. It focuses on the political settlements that lie at the heart of the waste regimes. As such, waste regimes in these two cities are understood to be a product of the interplay of balances of power, institutions and distribution of benefits. The study also highlights the need to understand informal institutions as relational phenomena that affect both the rich and the poor, and not just as a subsistence strategy by the latter.

The written and unwritten rules of internet exclusion: inequality, institutions and network disadvantage in cities of the Global South

ABSTRACT Studies about the link between income and Internet access tend to focus exclusively on the demand side, or, when considering the supply side, to neglect any possible role of local and informal institutions. This research pays attention to the relationship between income distribution and Internet access within metropolitan areas of the Global South, with a special emphasis on local and informal institutions that could shape the ways by which this relationship works. Using a mixed-methods approach, two Latin American metropolitan areas are analysed: Santiago (Chile) and Medellín (Colombia). Although income is clearly linked to household Internet access in both cases, there are supply-side differences that can influence the income-connectivity nexus. The author proposes to introduce the concept of ‘institutionally generated network disadvantage’. Examples of formal and informal institutional factors are redlining, informal housing, socio-spatial segregation, tax exemptions and local public provision of services. The urban poor seem to be the most affected by institutionally generated digital exclusion.

Drought in the city: The economic impact of water scarcity in Latin American metropolitan areas

Abstract While the harmful impact of droughts is well-documented in rural areas, how droughts affect cities’ economies remains an open question. Using monthly labour force surveys from 78 cities in Latin America, we demonstrate that large sustained dry events decrease the probability of being employed, hourly wages, hours worked, and labour incomes. Informal workers are impacted the most. We highlight that the impact of droughts is larger than the impact of wet events, like those that cause floods. Health and power outages are two pathways explaining our results. Climate change will increase the occurrence of droughts, making our findings particularly relevant.

Territorio estratégico y segregación: la región noreste del Área Metropolitana de Montevideo

Las áreas metropolitanas de América Latina transitan por diversos cambios territoriales que se han profundizado durante las últimas décadas. En este estudio se analizan las dinámicas territoriales que han ocurrido en la región noreste del Área Metropolitana de Montevideo, se considera a la segregación territorial y a los territorios estratégicos como conceptos claves para entender dichas transformaciones. En este sentido se emplean técnicas de Geoprocesamiento y se elabora un índice de estratificación socioeconómica. Los resultados indican un crecimiento sostenido de los procesos de urbanización sobre el uso rural y se evidencia un desarrollo acelerado de cambios en las distintas clases sociales donde el Estado es un actor clave para favorecer los procesos de segregación territorial.

Polycentric Structures in Latin American Metropolitan Areas: Identifying Employment Sub-centres

Fernández-Maldonado A. M., Romein A., Verkoren O. and Parente Paula Pessoa R. Polycentric structures in Latin American metropolitan areas: identifying employment sub-centres, Regional Studies. The significant spatial transformations that have occurred within Latin American metropolitan areas since the 1990s have triggered many local studies claiming the formation of polycentric structures. This study explores the extent of that process, identifying sub-centres of employment using the double threshold methodology of job concentration and employment density in Mexico City (Mexico), Lima (Peru) and Fortaleza (Brazil). The results, although partial due to an absence of data on informal employment, indicate that Latin American metropolises are moving towards polycentric structures. But the identified employment sub-centres are mostly located in or near the metropolitan core, which practically excludes the formation of polycentric nodes in the metropolitan periphery.

Assessing land-use and -cover changes in relation to geographic factors and urban planning in the metropolitan area of Concepción (Chile). Implications for biodiversity conservation

The conservation of biodiversity in Latin American metropolitan areas is threatened by the intense land-use and -cover change. Assessing the overall biodiversity changes in entire regions faces with the traditional lack of consistent biodiversity data. This work aims at contributing to this assessment through a set of major pressures to biodiversity defined from land-use and -cover changes, and evaluating their extent, distribution and correlations with geographical variables. The study was performed in the framework of the Metropolitan Urban Plan of Concepción (MUPC, Chile). Land-use and -cover maps were obtained through image classification for the years 2000 and 2010, before and after the MUPC approval, and combined in a land-use and -cover change (LUCC) map. A set of pressures to biodiversity (natural and artificial forestation, deforestation, agricultural abandonment and expansion, and urbanization) was obtained from reclassifying the LUCC map. The correlations of these pressures with a set of geographical variables were assessed using canonical ordination methods. Finally, a preliminary forecast analysis of the effects of the MUPC was performed by combining the land-use and -cover map of 2010 with the urban-extension areas of the plan.Results showed that, in only 10 years, 57% of the Concepción Metropolitan Area (CMA) was affected by land-use and -cover changes, and 48% was affected by the pressures to biodiversity. Artificial forestation and deforestation were the dominant pressures, followed by agricultural abandonment and urbanization. The geographical distribution of pressures during the 2000–2010 period also contributed to affect the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of the CMA. Indeed, natural forestation occurred close to urbanization, thus threatening the ecological integrity of native forests, while artificial forestation, deforestation and agricultural abandonment took place in steeply areas thus increasing landslide risk. Despite urbanization was not the most relevant pressure in the short studied period, urban development planned in the MUPC would determine an overall increase of 60% in the built-up area of the CMA, mostly affecting brushwood and forest plantations but also native forest and wetlands. Implications of these results for the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and the sustainable management of Latin American metropolis are finally discussed.

Fragmentación Socio-espacial en la Periferia de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires

The metropolitan region of Buenos Aires was the object of significant transformations during the last decade of the 20th century, as were many other Latin American metropolitan areas. In fact, there is a change of pattern in the urbanization process from the European radial-concentric city to the North American dispersed urbanization. The difference between these processes is based first, in the different socio-economic composition of the actors; and secondly, in the fragmentation of the urban fabric. New private housing projects play a very important role in the restructuring of the urban land in the form of urban archipelagos with concomitant legal issues and the problematic of increased spatial and social segregation.

Polycentric Metropolitan Form: Application of a ‘Northern’ Concept in Latin America

Since the mid 20th century, large urban areas in advanced economies have experienced a fundamental transformation from relatively compact monocentric cities towards more extended polycentric metropolitan areas. By now, it is being commented repeatedly, but not investigated systematically that the concept of polycentricity is also adequate to characterise recent metropolitan dynamics in Latin-America. This paper aims to present a few key-issues for a future research agenda into polycentricity in Latin-American metropolitan areas. These elements are identified from a review of existing literature. Since no clear-cut definition and operationalisation of polycentricity exist yet, we distinguish some key-elements of this phenomenon in North America as a frame of reference for this review. It reveals that ‘polycentricity U.S. style’ is at best dawning in Latin-America. In order to achieve a more appropriate picture of polycentricity of Latin American metropolitan areas, our ideas for a research agenda take into account these areas typical economic, social and spatial conditions.

Polycentric Metropolitan Form: Application of a ‘Northern’ Concept in Latin America

Since the mid 20th century, large urban areas in advanced economies have experienced a fundamental transformation from relatively compact monocentric cities towards more extended polycentric metropolitan areas. By now, it is being commented repeatedly, but not investigated systematically that the concept of polycentricity is also adequate to characterise recent metropolitan dynamics in Latin-America. This paper aims to present a few key-issues for a future research agenda into polycentricity in Latin-American metropolitan areas. These elements are identified from a review of existing literature. Since no clear-cut definition and operationalisation of polycentricity exist yet, we distinguish some key-elements of this phenomenon in North America as a frame of reference for this review. It reveals that ‘polycentricity U.S. style’ is at best dawning in Latin-America. In order to achieve a more appropriate picture of polycentricity of Latin American metropolitan areas, our ideas for a research agenda take into account these areas typical economic, social and spatial conditions.

Vehicle Restrictions in Four Latin American Cities: Is Congestion Pricing Possible?

An exploratory study of the prospects for congestion pricing in four Latin American metropolitan areas where traffic bans currently exist—Santiago de Chile, Mexico City, São Paulo, and Bogotá—is presented. Through a historical analysis of the implementation process and experience of the traffic bans, along with a snowball‐sampled survey of transportation experts in each city, three factors are found to be the most important to ensure favourable prospects for implementing congestion pricing in these cities: (1) widespread public information regarding the environmental and health risks of traffic congestion and resulting air pollution; (2) implementation of complementary policies such as public transport enhancements and increased parking fees in congested areas; and (3) development of a knowledge culture among politicians and experts through discourse on alternative road pricing policies based on systematic analysis. Among other pertinent issues discussed, the work shows that the equity concerns for low‐income car drivers often cited in discussions on congestion pricing in developed countries are less applicable in the cases studied. A key concern is the lack of political will because it is people with relatively higher incomes and political influence who predominantly own and use cars in these four cities. The findings, though exploratory, are important because the potential of congestion pricing to manage the rapid pace of motorization in the developing world is not well studied. This paper presents an initial step towards studying the implementation of the policy in developing countries.

Desigualdad y procesos de exclusión social. Concentración socioespacial de desventajas en el Gran Buenos Aires y la Ciudad de México / Inequality and Processes of Social Exclusion. Socio-Spatial Concentration of Disadvantages in Greater Buenos Aires and

El deterioro y la disminución de las oportunidades de empleo para los sectores más desfavorecidos y la profundización de la inequidad en el acceso y la calidad de los servicios de salud y educación han ido acompañados de un proceso de crecimiento y agudización de la concentración espacial de la pobreza. En este artículo se exploran estos procesos y las especificidades que asumen en las localidades más pobres de dos áreas metropolitanas latinoamericanas: Florencio Varela en el Gran Buenos Aires y Chimalhuacán en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México. Pobreza, bajos niveles educativos, precariedad laboral, desempleo y desprotección, inadecuada provisión de infraestructura y acceso a servicios, son las principales dimensiones que se analizan y se destaca el carácter acumulativo y concentrado de estas desventajas. Se hace hincapié en que la retroalimentación y el reforzamiento mutuo de dichas dimensiones contribuyen a consolidar los procesos de quiebre social y a perpetuar las situaciones de privación. AbstractThe deterioration and reduction of employment opportunities for the most disadvantaged sectors and the exacerbation of the unequal access to and quality of health and education services have been accompanied by a process of growth and the exacerbation of the spatial concentration of poverty. This article explores these processes and the specificities of the poorest localities in two Latin American metropolitan areas: Florencio Varela in Greater Buenos Aires and Chimalhuacán in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Poverty, poor education levels, job precariousness, unemployment and lack of protection, inadequate provision of infrastructure and access to services are the main aspects analyzed; the article also highlights the cumulative, concentrated nature of these disadvantages. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the feedback and mutual reinforcement of these dimensions helps consolidate the process of social collapse while perpetuating situations of deprivation.

Tuberculosis and airflow obstruction: evidence from the PLATINO study in Latin America

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between history of tuberculosis and airflow obstruction. A population-based, multicentre study was carried out and included 5,571 subjects aged > or =40 yrs living in one of five Latin American metropolitan areas: Sao Paulo (Brazil); Montevideo (Uruguay); Mexico City (Mexico); Santiago (Chile); and Caracas (Venezuela). Subjects performed pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry and were asked whether they had ever been diagnosed with tuberculosis by a physician. The overall prevalence of airflow obstruction (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity post-bronchodilator <0.7) was 30.7% among those with a history of tuberculosis, compared with 13.9% among those without a history. Males with a medical history of tuberculosis were 4.1 times more likely to present airflow obstruction than those without such a diagnosis. This remained unchanged after adjustment for confounding by age, sex, schooling, ethnicity, smoking, exposure to dust and smoke, respiratory morbidity in childhood and current morbidity. Among females, the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were 2.3 and 1.7, respectively. In conclusion, history of tuberculosis is associated with airflow obstruction in Latin American middle-aged and older adults.

Cambios socioterritoriales en Buenos Aires durante la década de 1990

Durante la decada de 1990 Buenos Aires experimenta transformaciones socioterritoriales de trascendencia que pueden ser relacionadas de manera directa o indirecta con las estudiadas en la literatura que enfoca el fenomeno de la «ciudad global», mostrando, sin embargo, caracteristicas especificas que son analizadas en el trabajo. El analisis se centra en aquellos procesos que provocan fuertes cambios en el «mapa social» metropolitano, tanto los producidos en su casco central como en su extensa region metropolitana, prestando especial atencion al fenomeno al que se ha denominado la «suburbanizacion de las elites», que en Buenos Aires se produce de manera importante y acelerada durante los anos noventa, pero que cronologicamente resulta un proceso tardio si lo comparamos con fenomenos de caracteristicas mas o menos similares producidos en otras metropolis tanto de los Estados Unidos como de Latinoamerica.

The spatial structure of Latin American cities

Using published census data, metropolitan area population and employment statistics are constructed for several large Latin American cities in 1950, 1960, and 1970, and compared to similar statistics from selected North American cities. The Latin cities are experiencing decentralization of population and some decentralization of employment. Overall population density patterns of large Latin cities resemble those in older North American cities; newer North American cities have lower densities and are much more decentralized than Latin cities. High-status groups are somewhat concentrated in the central cities of Latin American metropolitan areas, but their concentrations there are declining.

The Mexican American syndrome.

DUBLIC health problems in the Mexican American barrio (community) can be appreciated if one considers the incidence of reportable diseases in health districts in which Mexican Americans comprise the ethnic majority. The morbidity and mortality rates among them generally run two or three times higher than for the dominant Anglo culture group.1'2 In Los Angeles County, it has been found that the incidence rates for most reportable diseases are higher in the two Mexican American districts than in the county as a whole.2 The greatest differences were found in rates of diseases associated with poor sanitary conditions. The tuberculosis case rate was more than double the county rate.2 The syphilis case rate had more than doubled in the East and Northeast Health Districts.2 A low rate of hospital admissions and medical attention occurred despite high rates of bacterial and parasitic infections, circulatory disease, and accidents. Immunizations were two-thirds under what is considered adequate. Untreated medical conditions commonly observed included skin infections, diarrhea, tonsillitis, iron deficiency anemia, and pregnancy without prenatal care. Pregnancy without prenatal care was of particular interest since a perinatal mortality 10 per cent higher than in the rest of the state has been reported from predominantly Mexican American health districts.' The Mexican Americans constitute a cultural entity-in various phases of adaptation to a changing society. They have been described as dumb, dirty, lazy; as fatalistic voodoo practicers of a criminal mentality.3 The Mexican American represents a larger ethnic minority group than the Negro population in the state of California. This is 10 to 15 per cent of the population depending on the region and source of reference. Metropolitan Los Angeles acquired so many Spanish-speaking residents that it qualified for a time as one of the largest Latin American metropolitan areas in the Western Hemisphere.4 Fanon's5 observations on the oral traditions that perpetuated the North African Syndrome led this investigator to look for similar causes which might contribute to the Mexican American Syndrome. It has been pointed out that: