Urban Latin America

Tom Angotti is professor emeritus of urban policy and planning at Hunter College and the graduate center, City University of New York.

By most measures, Mexico City and São Paulo are two of the 10 largest cities in the world; the regional population in each is over 20 million people. With the global population rapidly expanding and living in urban areas, and with almost all projected megacities located in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, it would be prudent to have a better understanding of how cities develop and what impact neoliberal policies and growing inequalities have on urban society. This collection of 16 essays uncovers the inner workings of Latin American cities, provides a look at political processes and forms of resistance, brings to life the people who inhabit these cities, and presents readers with alternative narratives to traditional urban development as it has come to be understood in North America. By exploring alternatives to markets; by outlining forms of community control, budgeting, and opposition to neoliberal policies; and by celebrating the occupants of cities through the rejection of stereotypes like “marginal” and “informal,” Angotti’s volume takes its place as an important addition to literature on urbanization globally. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

• Part I: Poverty, Informality, and Peripheral CitiesChapter 1: Urban Latin America: Periphery, Informality, and InequalityTom AngottiChapter 2: Poverty, Inequality, and Informality in the Latin American CityAlan GilbertChapter 3: They Are Not Informal Settlements: They Are Habitats Made by PeopleLorena ZárateChapter 4: The Future of Global Peripheral CitiesErminia MaricatoPart II: The Metropolis in Latin America: São Paulo and Mexico CityChapter 5: São Paulo: City of Industry, Misery, and ResistanceWilliam W. Goldsmith and Rogerio AccaChapter 6: Globalization, Governance, and the Collision of Forces in Mexico City’s Historic CenterDiane E. DavisPart III: Urban Policies, Neoliberal Reforms, and Best PracticesChapter 7: Failed Markets: The Crisis in the Private Production of Social Housing in MexicoAlfonso Valenzuela AguileraChapter 8: Participatory Budgeting in Latin American Cities Benjamin GoldfrankChapter 9: Urban Governance and Economic Development in Medellín: An “Urban Miracle”? Tobias FranzChapter 10: Conflict and Convergence between Experts and Citizens: Bogotá’s TransMilenioStacey HuntChapter 11: Barra da Tijuca: The Political Economy of a Global Suburb in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLawrence A. HerzogPart IV: Exceptions to the RulesChapter 12: Housing and Urban Development in the Cuban RevolutionJill HambergChapter 13: Uruguay’s Housing Cooperatives: Alternative to the Private MarketTom AngottiPart V: Urban Struggles, Citizenship, and Public SpaceChapter 14: Citizenship, Democracy, and Public Space in Latin AmericaClara IrazábalChapter 15: Struggles against Territorial Disqualification: Mobilization forDignified Housing and Defense of Heritage in SantiagoNicolás Angelcos and María Luisa MéndezChapter 16: “We Are Not Marginals”: The Cultural Politics of Lead Poisoning in Montevideo, UruguayDaniel RenfrewReferences