Population, territory and sustainable development
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.
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Chapter X<br />
TRENDS, MUTATIONS AND CHALLENGES IN LARGE CITIES<br />
A. METROPOLITANIZATION, A HALLMARK OF LATIN AMERICA<br />
Latin America’s urbanization process has a defining characteristic: it has been a process of<br />
“metropolitanization”. In other words, a heavy concentration of the population has come to reside in vast<br />
cities, which can be classified as “large cities” (over 1 million inhabitants), “metropolises” (over 5 million<br />
inhabitants), <strong>and</strong> “megalopolises” (over 10 million inhabitants). 1 Indeed, the region st<strong>and</strong>s out globally for<br />
its number of metropolises. According to the United Nations <strong>Population</strong> Division, in 2010 there were four<br />
megalopolises in Latin America: São Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; <strong>and</strong><br />
Río de Janeiro, Brazil. These were among the 14 largest megalopolises in the world, ranking third, fifth,<br />
eleventh, <strong>and</strong> fourteenth, respectively, by number of inhabitants (United Nations, 2009). As shown in<br />
table X.1, the region was home to 8.6% <strong>and</strong> 13.2% of the global total population <strong>and</strong> the global urban<br />
population, respectively. In numerical terms, the region’s four megalopolises accounted for 28% of the 14<br />
largest megalopolises in the world <strong>and</strong> 19% of the 21 megalopolises in the world in 2010.<br />
Table X.1<br />
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: PERCENTAGES OF GLOBAL TOTAL,<br />
RURAL AND URBAN POPULATION<br />
Region Variable Number of inhabitants<br />
World Total population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 6 895 889<br />
World Urban population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 3 558 578<br />
World Rural population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 3 337 311<br />
Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean Total population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 590 082 8.6<br />
Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean Urban population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 465 246 13.1<br />
Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean Rural population (thous<strong>and</strong>s) 124 836 3.7<br />
Percentage<br />
corresponding to<br />
Latin America <strong>and</strong><br />
the Caribbean<br />
Source: United Nations <strong>Population</strong> Division, World <strong>Population</strong> Prospects: The 2010 Revision, New York, Department of<br />
Economic <strong>and</strong> Social Affairs, 2011; <strong>and</strong> World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision, New York, Department of<br />
Economic <strong>and</strong> Social Affairs, 2012.<br />
The population of the region’s large cities represents around one third of the region’s total<br />
population, a rate matched only by North America, the most urban <strong>and</strong> metropolitanized region in the<br />
world. Equally important is the fact that based on various economic <strong>and</strong> political indicators, the<br />
concentration of productive activities <strong>and</strong> power in these large cities is even greater than their<br />
demographic weight (see box X.1).<br />
1<br />
Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean, the most urbanized region in the developing world, is characterized by a high<br />
degree of urban primacy: In 2000 in Latin America around 20% of the total population lived in cities with more than<br />
five million inhabitants which is more than in other regions of the world (Jordán, Rehner <strong>and</strong> Samaniego, 2010).