Population, territory and sustainable development

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Metropolitanization and the preponderance of large cities are topics of intense academic and
political debate that are examined in later sections of this chapter, but first, demographic trends in the
major administrative divisions in which large cities are located will be presented as the foundation for
analysing the demographic evolution of large cities based on the most current information available.
Box X.1
METROPOLITAN CONCENTRATION: A PHENOMENON THAT IS NOT LIMITED TO POPULATION
Fernanda Magalhães (2010) indicates that in 2007, nearly half of Brazil’s population lived in metropolitan regions
that generated 58% of GDP and were home to 80% of corporate headquarters. Garson and others (2010) assert that
the municipios that make up Brazil’s metropolitan regions play host to the head offices of 79.4% of the country’s
500 largest companies and account for 73.7% of banking and financial operations, 67.2% of high-tech jobs, 52.4%
of wages, 41.2% of bank agencies, 84.3% of airline passengers and 36.9% of the national population. A recent study
by the Metropoly Observatory of Brazil finds that these urban agglomerations in Brazil continue to play a major role
in wealth creation in the country and have since 2005 at sustained levels. While their share of economic activity has
not returned to the levels observed at the at the beginning of the decade, in 2009 urban agglomerations that exhibited
traits of metropolises, known collectively as “Metropolitan Brazil,” contributed 52.2% of national GDP.
Sobrino (2011) discusses the idea of an “urban region,” defined as a region containing a large metropolitan
area and smaller adjacent urban areas within a radius generally understood to be no greater than 150 kilometres, or a
number of urban areas with a population of more than 1 million inhabitants in which no single area predominates.
The author concludes that in 2010 there were six urban regions in Mexico, while in 2030 there will be eight, which
will be home to 45% of the country’s population and will generate 65% of national GDP.
In a comparative analysis of six metropolises in the region, Jordán, Rehner and Samaniego (2010, p. 14)
state, “In spite of the importance of extractive activities prevails an outstanding level of economic centrality. The
main megacities of the region are the dominating economic centre in their respective national context and Buenos
Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Santiago are the megacities with major importance regarding economic activities
in Latin America and the highest level of interconnectivity being classified as global cities… Almost half of the
economic activities is concentrated in the main city in the case of Chile and Peru, around one quarter in Argentina
and Colombia”.
Source: Fernanda Magalhães (ed.), Regiões metropolitanas no Brasil: um paradoxo de desafios e oportunidades, Inter-
American Development Bank, (IDB), 2010; Jaime Sobrino, “La urbanización en el México contemporáneo”, document
of the meeting of experts “Población territorio y desarrollo sostenible”, 2011, [online] http://www.cepal.org/celade/
noticias/paginas/5/44305/Jaime_Sobrino.pdf; Marcelo Ribeiro and Filipe Corrêa , “Metropolização da riqueza”,
Metropoly Observatory of Brazil, 2011, [online] http://www.observatoriodasmetropoles.net/boletim/www.observatorio
dasmetropoles.net/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=120&Itemid=164&lang=pt; Ricardo Jordán, Johannes
Rehner and Joseluis Samaniego, “Regional Panorama Latin America: Megacities and Sustainability”, Project
Document, No 289 (LC/W.289), Santiago, Chile, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC)/German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), 2010.
B. SITUATION OF MAJOR ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
WITH LARGE CITIES
An initial look at the major administrative divisions (MADs) that host the largest city in the respective
country, known as “metropolitan MADs,” is a necessary prelude to a study focusing specifically on large
cities. In some countries, metropolitan MADs include more than one MAD, either because there are two
or more large cities or because the capital city encompasses more than one MAD, with patterns varying in
terms of demographic growth and the evolution of their share of the national population. Table X.2
presents this evolution, and the relevant information leads to a first conclusion on the process of
concentration of population in metropolitan areas.