Population, territory and sustainable development

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117 This chapter presents the most recent evidence available on urbanization in Latin America, exploring both regional and national trends. This detailed description is complemented by a specific empirical analysis of the links between urbanization, territory and sustainable development along the dimensions identified above —that is, economic and social progress, environmental sustainability and natural disasters. The goal is not to define these relationships or provide support for one hypothesis or another, but rather to offer a general description of the urbanization process that will be useful for general policy guidance and to provide specific analytical inputs in these areas for the design of policies and programmes aimed at achieving manageable, equitable, efficient and sustainable urbanization. B. URBANIZATION, MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT As discussed in chapter IV, almost all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have seen massive migration from rural areas to urban ones. The trend continues despite the high degree of urbanization in the region, due to the persistent socioeconomic gaps between the two environments that typically work against rural areas. In addition, burgeoning production in many rural areas as a result of what is called “reprimarization” and the agribusiness boom appears to yield scarce direct dividends for the rural population —and in some cases has even resulted in an exit of rural residents. By contrast, cities that are close to the primary sector (e.g., agriculture and mining) do capture some of the resources generated by this growth. Examining this migration is therefore a must, but without repeating the data and analysis already set out in chapter IV. Thus this section builds on the conceptual discussion of migration and its link to sustainable development and territorial transformations. A later section explores the specific relationship between urbanization and rural-urban migration, based on data derived from applying the indirect procedure of intercensus survival ratios. The findings in terms of net rural-urban transfer were presented in chapter IV. Initially (from the 1940s to the 1960s), country-to-city migration was met with enthusiasm largely driven by experiences, theory and researchers from elsewhere. First, comparative experience demonstrated a close association between industrialization and development in the industrialized countries. Second, the dominant conceptual approaches to economic and social development —in all their variations, with sociological “modernization theory” being the best example— proposed a synergetic relationship between urbanization and development and between rural-urban migration, rising productivity and institutional and personal modernization. In other words, urbanization and rural-urban migration were seen as prerequisites for development (Rodríguez and Busso, 2009). Furthermore, the dominant political approach in the region, promoted within the region by ECLAC, was based in State-led industrialization (Ocampo, 2006), which was clearly in line with urbanization. Over time, a number of less encouraging explanations and forecasts of urbanization emerged. Most of these were based on the regional reality and had both theoretical and practical foundations. Conceptually, these studies highlighted the push factors that characterized the Latin American countryside, associated with highly concentrated land ownership, the low productivity of traditional small farmers and the structure of economic, political and cultural dominance that completely neglected public and social investment for the rural population. All of this resulted, at least around the middle of the twentieth century, in substantial socioeconomic gaps between a sluggish countryside characterized by precarious living conditions and a dynamic urban environment with more options and better opportunities, which understandably made rural-urban migration attractive. The structural nature of social exclusion in the countryside meant that for many individuals the exodus reflected necessity and obligation (push) rather than a rational, informed decision. Consequently, one of the main conclusions of this initial
118 theory coming out of the region was that rural-urban migration would continue even under adverse or uncertain scenarios for the migrants leaving rural areas. Even further, the outcome for the migrants was systemically regarded as irrelevant, insofar as the aggregate functionality of migration was based on “maintaining an abundant labour reserve in the capitalist industrial society” (Martine, 1979, pp. 15–16). This pointed to a natural, albeit sometimes hidden, interest on the part of the region’s dominant social actors in continuing to promote urbanization driven by migration from the countryside, even under precarious conditions for the new city residents. One of the contributions of the so-called Latin American approach to internal migration, which came to be very influential and widely recognized in the 1960s and 1970s, was to question the potential for retaining the rural population through modernization programmes and improvements in living conditions in the Latin American countryside (CLACSO, 1972), because such programmes ultimately reinforced the tendency to migrate by generating expectations in terms of employment, education and cultural opportunities that could only be satisfied in the cities. Conceptual and policy ambivalence in the face of rural-urban migration, plus the complexity of any attempt at intervention, were behind the imbalance between robust policy discourse and academic research and weak policies and programmes. The most promising initiatives (albeit with no guaranteed impact as to retention), such as those oriented toward improving land distribution via agrarian reform and strengthening the role of communities and producer associations by promoting agricultural cooperatives, were fostered and implemented to serve other objectives related to social transformation and revolution, and they were very dependent on the correlation of political forces within the countries. For different reasons, their implementation fell short on a number of levels, which ultimately eroded the results not only in terms of agricultural output and productivity, but also with regard to the formation of a dynamic rural sector. Worse still, almost all the military coups staged in the region before the 1980s (after which time there were very few) were conservative in nature. One of their first measures was to reverse these policies, curtailing their long-term effect on rural emigration. Beyond the conceptual debate, the actual experience of the region’s countries and cities began to make the pessimists look right as the signs of strain became increasingly visible and the cities outgrew their capacity to productively absorb their endless expansion, in large part driven by immigrants from rural areas. These concerns snowballed, and they were magnified when two interrelated events shook the region in the early 1980s. The first was the so-called debt crisis, which had a severe effect on all economic and social actors by jeopardizing the solvency of the State and was followed by a widespread economic crisis and a sharp contraction in sectoral and social spending. The second was the response of most countries to this crisis, which consisted of abandoning the earlier development strategy and replacing it with one geared towards economic deregulation, privatization of public assets and export promotion in sectors with immediate comparative advantages, typically commodities. This change was accompanied by severe structural adjustments marked by budgetary restrictions, wage freezes, rate increases, a decrease in investment in public services, government payroll cut-backs and the sell-off of State-owned enterprises. The development model underpinning urbanization thus came to a crisis and was replaced by a model with a very different sectoral focus (tradable commodities over manufactures) and what would seem to be a shift in territorial preferences. The locus of the promoted sectors —basically, the countryside, mines, forests and aquifers located in rural areas— was far from the large cities and the urban environment. It is not surprising, therefore, that metropolises, cities, and the urban setting in general underwent a weakening that was both objective and symbolic. It was objective in that metropolises and cities were hit especially hard by the economic crisis as unemployment and poverty levels rose, government budgets were slashed and social services shrank even more (IDB, 2011; Rodríguez and
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Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary
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4 Chapter VII Regional inequalities
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6 Table V.3 Latin America (9 countr
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8 Figure IV.10 Latin America (selec
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10 Map VII.5 Plurinational State of
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12 This document is therefore divid
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15 Chapter II CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS
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17 which guarantee comparability. C
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19 social inclusion, with improveme
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21 The above description is clearly
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24 Table III.1 LATIN AMERICA AND TH
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26 Table III.3 LATIN AMERICA (19 CO
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28 While the rural population of La
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30 Box IV.1 (concluded) In addition
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32 As a result of the absolute and
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34 The sustained decline in the rur
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36 Country Table IV.2 LATIN AMERICA
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38 Country Table IV.5 LATIN AMERICA
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40 Box IV.3 THE AGEING OF THE RURAL
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42 Rodríguez and Meneses (2011) co
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44 The classification outlined in t
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46 An analysis of the results obtai
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48 Although the inhabitants of some
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50 Non-agricultural employment has
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52 C. PRODUCTION PATTERNS AND THE R
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54 Box IV.5 IMPACTS OF SOYBEAN PROD
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56 A recent study entitled Inserci
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58 Table IV.11 LATIN AMERICA: POOR
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60 Figure IV.7 POVERTY IN RURAL HOU
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62 Box IV.6 (concluded) These and o
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64 combine a number of factors of w
Page 67 and 68: 66 Figure IV.10 LATIN AMERICA (SELE
Page 69 and 70: 68 The data in figure IV.11 also sh
Page 71 and 72: 70 Figure IV.12 LATIN AMERICA: AVER
Page 73 and 74: 72 Box IV.8 ADOLESCENT FERTILITY IN
Page 75 and 76: 74 Map V.1 SOUTH AMERICA: POPULATIO
Page 77 and 78: 76 Prime examples of this include t
Page 79 and 80: 78 Table V.2 LATIN AMERICA (9 COUNT
Page 81 and 82: 80 creation of tax-free zones, the
Page 83 and 84: 82 Box V.2 (concluded) State polici
Page 85 and 86: 84 In any case, only once the infor
Page 87 and 88: 86 It is not possible to draw direc
Page 89 and 90: 88 studies was conducted recently b
Page 91 and 92: 90 C. THE POLITICAL CONTEXT AND MOB
Page 94 and 95: 93 Chapter VII REGIONAL INEQUALITIE
Page 96 and 97: 95 Map VII.2 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 98 and 99: 97 Some of these programmes were su
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Page 102 and 103: 101 Map VII.3 CHILE: CLASSIFICATION
Page 104 and 105: 103 In Mexico, most of the chronica
Page 106 and 107: 105 Figure VII.3 ECUADOR: POVERTY R
Page 108 and 109: 107 However, internal migration can
Page 110 and 111: 109 Table VII.5 LATIN AMERICA (SELE
Page 112 and 113: 111 Table VII.7 PERU (SIERRA DEPART
Page 114 and 115: 113 Lastly, in the case of Ecuador,
Page 116 and 117: 115 Chapter VIII SUSTAINED URBANIZA
Page 120 and 121: 119 Busso, 2009; and ECLAC-UN-HABIT
Page 122 and 123: 121 estimate of the urban populatio
Page 124 and 125: 123 Figure VIII.2 LATIN AMERICA AND
Page 126 and 127: 125 First, the region’s economy i
Page 128 and 129: 127 urbanized; the rural population
Page 130 and 131: 129 rural areas. According to the s
Page 132 and 133: 131 the absence of a strategic visi
Page 134 and 135: 133 The need to design ad hoc inter
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Page 138 and 139: 137 Figure VIII.4 LATIN AMERICA AND
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Page 143 and 144: 142 The rest of the system of citie
Page 145 and 146: 144 Table IX.1 LATIN AMERICA: NUMBE
Page 147 and 148: 146 First is the demographic scope
Page 149 and 150: 148 Basing the same series on towns
Page 151 and 152: 150 Table IX.2 LATIN AMERICA: PROSP
Page 153 and 154: 152 The data emerging from 2010 cen
Page 155 and 156: 154 City size Table IX.6 LATIN AMER
Page 157 and 158: 156 Figure IX.5 LATIN AMERICA (1,73
Page 159 and 160: 158 For unemployment, the picture i
Page 161 and 162: 160 rate differential among the dif
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169 Chapter X TRENDS, MUTATIONS AND
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171 Table X.2 LATIN AMERICA: EVOLUT
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173 1. Demographic evolution of lar
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175 As table X.4 shows, during the
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177 comparison. But the most convin
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179 in recent years, which are desc
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181 Map X.2 MEXICO: INTERCENSAL GRO
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183 irregular settlements known as
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185 The third argument is based on
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187 Map X.4 MEXICO CITY: EXTENDED M
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189 more general social inequalitie
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191 5. Concluding remarks: the grea
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194 In view of lower internal migra
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196 familiarity with surroundings a
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198 connections; (ii) identify the
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200 The report casts light on an is
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202 Box XI.3 PROTECTING THE ECOSYST
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204 In view of the above, the prima
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206 overlap of functions and alloca
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208 Many of the programmes develope
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210 A breakdown of net migration by
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212 Box XI.8 (concluded) Case studi
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215 Bibliography Abba, Artemio Pedr
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217 Cecchini, S. and A. Madariaga (
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219 (2010a), Time for equality: clo
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221 Hiebert, Daniel and David Ley (
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223 Pendall, R., R. Puentes and J.
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225 Rodríguez, J. and M. Villa (19
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Population, territory and sustainable development

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