Comparative Urban Politics:
Pl.Sc. 422
Growth of Cities & Urban Regions in
Latin America
Pre-Colombian Cities & Architecture
Tenochtitlan
Spanish Colonial Cities/Built
Environment of Mexico City
Cartagena: Key to the Spanish
Caribbean
Man-made Destruction in Spanish
Colonial Empire:
19th Century
 Political infrastructure
destroyed in the struggle
for independence
 Looting and burning in
the major colonial cities
 Early nation-building:
More destruction

Argentina’s first gauchos, or cowboys, were cavalrymen
who fought in the civil wars that scourged the country for
almost 50 years after independce
Caracas: A Case Study of Urban
Destruction
 Earthquake and sack by Spanish troops devastates the city
 Fifty years of independence: destruction continues
 Conservative interlude (1830’s to 50’s)
 Liberal – Conservative clash in the 1850’s/1860’s
 Built environment modernized (1880’s
 Census of 1890 – Caracas regain the population it had in
census of 1810 (50,00)
Contemporary Caracas
BRAZIL in SOUTH AMERICA
Cities of Brazil: Early Development
 Colonial pattern resembled
British Colonies of North
America
 Northeast Brazil as the
heart of Colonial Brasil
 Recife
 Salvador
Cities of Brazil: Early Development
Shift to Rio de Janeiro
 1763 – capital relocated to
Rio de Janeiro
 Transfer of Portuguese
court consolidates primacy
of Rio
 Rio functions as primate
city until the early
twentieth century
 Colonial built environment:
government buildings in Rio
National Cities of Brazil: Twentieth
Century
 Emergence of São Paulo as the
country’s largest and
wealthiest city
 Rio continues to exert
national influence
 Culture
 Tourism
 State corporations
 Belo Horizonte becomes a
national urban center
Cities of Brazil: Twentieth Century
 Porto Alegre and
Curitiba emerge as
regionally important
cities in the South
 Northeast grows at
slower rate
 Salvador – regional
metropolis
 Recife – regional
metropolis
 Fortaleza – regional
metropolis
Transfer of capital to Brasilia
in 1960
LATIN AMERICA: FROM A RURAL
TO AN URBAN SOCIETY
 1960 less that 50% of Latin Americans lived in cities
 Plummeting death rates and unchanged fertility rates lead to
dramatic increase in migration to the large cities
 Most cities provided employment, housing, transportation
and basic health services
SHAPE OF THE CITY
 Share basic similarity at their inception
 Council of Indies sets Spanish American pattern
 Overseas Council sets Brazilian pattern
 Urban life centers on the plaza
 Pattern of expansion has been similar
 Part of international production system
 Development path
 Internationalization of consumer taste
 Informal sector everywhere
Urban Primacy: Dominant Pattern
 First city much larger than any other city in the country
 Political center
 Economic center
 Cultural center
 Buenos Aires and Lima ten times larger than the second
city
 Brazil city system: continental in scope
 Colombia: Bogotá not yet a primate city
Map
GROWTH OF THE LATIN AMERICAN
MEGACITIES
 Mexico City and São Paulo approach twenty million
 Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires exceed approach 14 million
 Lima and Bogotá surpass 7 million