Mega City in Latin America (Mega-city)
Publisher: United Nations University Press
Published: October 1996
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9789280809350
Subjects: Development studies; Population & demography; Social issues; The Environment; Urban communities; Central America; South America; 21st century; c 1990 to c 2000; International Relations - General; Latin America - General; Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev; Politics / Current Events
Description: "By the Year 2000, Latin America will contain five metropolitan areas with more than 8 million people. Their combined population will be over 70 million, and approximately one Latin America in seven will live in those five cities. Two of them, Mexico City and Sao Paulo, will arguably be the world's two largest cities." "The sheer number of people living in Latin America's mega-cities is not the only reason for looking at them carefully. Unfortunately, they also demonstrate many of the worst symptoms of the region's underdevelopment: vast areas of shanty towns, huge numbers of poor people, high concentrations of air and water pollution, and serious levels of traffic congestion. This book is about the prospects for their future." "Several clear conclusions emerge from the book. First, the largest cities of Latin America differ greatly in terms of their future prospects. It is far easier to be optimistic in Buenos Aires than in Lima. Second, whether urban problems improve or deteriorate has rather little to do with size of city an a great deal to do with trends in the wider economy and society. Increasingly, those trends are determined not just by local decisions but by decisions made outside the region. Third, Latin America's mega-cities are not going to grow to unmanageable proportions because their growth rates have generally slowed. Fourth, management is a critical issue for the future but it is difficult to know whether the quality of management will improve or deteriorate through time."--BOOK JACKET.