Globalization and Latin American cities

This article focuses on the economically disorganizing and politically reorganizing role of globalization for the urban populations of Latin America. The 1990s witnessed a rapid., but dependent, incorporation of Latin American countries into the global economy and in ways that had considerable impact on their urban economies. Though the modern service sector increased in this period, the large Latin American metropolises show little sign of acquiring world city functions. Rather, the major impact of globalization on Latin American cities has been the strengthening of income inequality and an increasing vulnerability of their populations to poverty. The informal economy continues to thrive, but as a low-wage sector, and data from four cities show worsening job conditions and income polarization in the formal sector. The spatial segregation of the cities becomes more complex as the market liberalizations accompanying globalization stimulate investment in business and residential enclaves located in or close to poor areas of the city. Large-scale spatial segregation increases mainly through the peripheral location of poor populations, while transport deficiencies and land limitations inhibit the suburbanization of the high-income populations. The other side of globalization is the political decentralization fostered by international agencies and national governments, which gives new political and social welfare significance to urban neighborhoods. The intervention of external actors, local, national and international, has sharply increased in neighborhood affairs. There is a globalization from below in the ways that urban inhabitants use links with community., state and NGOs to further their rights and link with others in like circumstances.