Population, territory and sustainable development

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185 The third argument is based on a fait accompli: the conviction that peri-urban settlements are irreversible in the short and medium term and that policies should take the dual approach of discouraging and preventing poor urban sprawl while also seeking to address the existing needs of peri-urban communities. This two-pronged approach has economic as well as political costs. Specifically, it creates expectations of urbanization and regularization among potential newcomers to the urban periphery, whether “squatters” or individuals who resort to the informal market. However, to deny people access to basic services and refuse them the right to reside in the city just because they live on the informal periphery is unacceptable, while maintaining a division between the formal city and informal city, between the centre and the periphery, is politically and socioeconomically unsustainable (Aguilar and Escanilla, 2011; Torres, 2008; UNFPA, 2007; Clivchensky, 2006 and 2002). The fourth argument is a defense of the advantages and strong points of informality and the periphery. This position has frequently been espoused by those who defend the informal sector as a strategic and lasting alternative for metropolitan economies, 8 but there are also specialists who recognize the appeal of informality in both the labour market and the residential sector. In the labour sector, there are studies that find a paradoxical preference for informality, whether based on an appreciation of its benefits, ignorance of other possible options or inability to make use of them. Linn (2010, p. 15) finds it very surprising that there is a widespread preference, borne out by Latin American survey data, for informal over formal sector employment, even though the former is generally less productive. In housing, informality has objective advantages not only in terms of purchase costs but also in terms of taxes, which informal residential units do not pay, and the free services, typically electricity, that are sometimes obtained through illegal connections to the city’s supply. 9 Furthermore, recent qualitative studies conducted as part of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida programme in Brazil have found in certain peri-urban areas an unanticipated appreciation of these pluses. 10 In view of the foregoing, it makes no sense to adopt policies and programmes that exclude or impose penalties on peri-urban dwellers. On the contrary, the consolidation of areas on the periphery should be made a priority in all large cities because it is the only way of ending the vicious cycle of dual and divided cities. Of course, this can be coupled with policies to prevent further urban sprawl, but since demand for housing will continue to rise over the next several years, 11 control measures should be accompanied by densification policies and programmes that, among other things, facilitate high-rise construction, the use of vacant lots and the renovation of housing located in city centres. 8 9 10 11 The De Soto study (1986) is an emblematic example of this line of reasoning, as is its appreciation of the flexibility and entrepreneurial capacity of this sector and its proposal to grant property rights to this sector. This does not necessarily mean that informality has a lower individual cost in the long run, since it does have both direct and indirect costs. Conversely, the costs of formality should be considered in the design of residential formalization and regularization programmes, which very often fail because they did not consider the hardships that “regularized” families would face in covering these costs. See [online] http://www.observatoriodasmetropoles.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1713 %3Aminha-casa-minha-vida-experiencias-de-autogestao-coletiva&lang=pt. The increase in the number of homes, the indicator used to calculate demand for housing, is outpacing the increase in population due to a combination of factors, including demographic inertia, a decline in average family size and an increase in the divorce rate. It is also possible that large cities are seeing demand for second homes among foreigners or people who live in other areas of the country.
186 4. Structural mutations in metropolises: restructuring and the public agenda Large cities are undergoing structural changes, and the primary basis for systematization and comparison is the experience of cities in developed countries. The main conclusions of this analysis (Ingram, 1998) point to an economic and demographic deconcentration trend in metropolises, through growth at the periphery and the emergence of edgeless cities; the diversification of business districts, consistent with a transition from monocentrism to polycentrism; and the increasing service-oriented specialization of the historic business district (relocation of the financial centre). In more operational terms, the following constants have been identified (Ingram and Echeñique, 2006; Galetovic and Jordán, 2006): (i) a trend of declining density as distance from the centre increases; (ii) a trend of declining average density and a shrinking density gap between the city centre and the periphery resulting from an increase in national income; (iii) a concentration of jobs in city centres, which does not occur with housing, coupled with a deconcentration trend as income levels rise; (iv) along with the decentralization of sources of employment, a reduction in traffic along the main arteries leading into the city and shorter commute times, since people who work in the urban periphery tend to live closer to their place of employment. These conclusions are based on the experience of cities in developed countries where, notwithstanding the problems of recent years, the relevant markets (land and housing, among others) work and are subject to effective urban regulations. This is an important difference from cities in developing countries, a category that includes Latin American metropolises, where markets and regulations are weaker. Thus, the evolution of large cities in the region may diverge from these stylized patterns. Indeed, there is considerable debate as to whether these trends hold true for the region’s cities. The previous section mentioned the gulf that exists between the suburban deconcentration trend seen among middle and upper classes in cities in developed countries (particularly the United States) and the sprawl seen in poor peri-urban areas until just recently in the cities of Latin America. Moreover, the hypothesized decrease in commute times would not yet seem to apply to the region’s countries, where a large percentage of workers on the urban periphery must still travel great distances to get to work, using mass transit options that are frequently unsafe or traveling on heavily congested roads. 12 Regarding the idea concerning the transition from a monocentric city to a polycentric city, a recent study states, “… some authors have enthusiastically embraced the theory, others with greater caution, and in a good number of cases this had led to a thorough review of its components and the finding that it cannot be fully and unequivocally supported” (Cuervo, 2010, p. 18). Regarding the configuration of sprawling metropolitan areas or urban regions (De Mattos, 2010; Sassen, 2007), studies done in the 1990s were already anticipating this process, which can be attributed to increasing interaction between the original metropolis and an array of cities located up to 200 kilometres from its centre (Gilbert, 1996). Map X.4 illustrates this situation in the case of Mexico City, based on 2000 and 2010 census data. Meanwhile, some studies, using 2010 census data, have already verified the existence of a São Paulo “macrometropolis” comprising 153 cities and 30 million inhabitants. 13 It is impossible to imagine what metropolises will look like in the future without taking into account this process of diffusion of population, facilities, infrastructure and the “artifacts of globalization” (De Mattos, 2010). The most important distinction to make, however, is that this is a discontinuous diffusion no longer based on growth at the edge, although this could change (Angel and others, 2011), but rather on interconnection with cities in the surrounding area. 12 13 In Santiago, Bogota and Lima, the average commute time is 45 minutes, whereas in Mexico City and São Paulo, it is well above one hour (75 and 100 minutes, respectively), which reflects the more pressing congestion problems faced by those two metropolises (Jordán, Rehner and Samaniego, 2011, p. 55). See [online] http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/macrometropole-paulista-ja-engloba-153-cidades-30-milhoes-de-pessoas- 2870539.
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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
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66 Figure IV.10 LATIN AMERICA (SELE
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68 The data in figure IV.11 also sh
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70 Figure IV.12 LATIN AMERICA: AVER
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72 Box IV.8 ADOLESCENT FERTILITY IN
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74 Map V.1 SOUTH AMERICA: POPULATIO
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76 Prime examples of this include t
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78 Table V.2 LATIN AMERICA (9 COUNT
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80 creation of tax-free zones, the
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82 Box V.2 (concluded) State polici
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84 In any case, only once the infor
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86 It is not possible to draw direc
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88 studies was conducted recently b
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90 C. THE POLITICAL CONTEXT AND MOB
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93 Chapter VII REGIONAL INEQUALITIE
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95 Map VII.2 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
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97 Some of these programmes were su
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99 D. TERRITORIAL EQUITY, REGIONAL
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101 Map VII.3 CHILE: CLASSIFICATION
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103 In Mexico, most of the chronica
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105 Figure VII.3 ECUADOR: POVERTY R
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107 However, internal migration can
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109 Table VII.5 LATIN AMERICA (SELE
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111 Table VII.7 PERU (SIERRA DEPART
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113 Lastly, in the case of Ecuador,
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115 Chapter VIII SUSTAINED URBANIZA
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117 This chapter presents the most
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119 Busso, 2009; and ECLAC-UN-HABIT
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121 estimate of the urban populatio
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123 Figure VIII.2 LATIN AMERICA AND
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125 First, the region’s economy i
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127 urbanized; the rural population
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129 rural areas. According to the s
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131 the absence of a strategic visi
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133 The need to design ad hoc inter
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Page 216 and 217: 215 Bibliography Abba, Artemio Pedr
Page 218 and 219: 217 Cecchini, S. and A. Madariaga (
Page 220 and 221: 219 (2010a), Time for equality: clo
Page 222 and 223: 221 Hiebert, Daniel and David Ley (
Page 224 and 225: 223 Pendall, R., R. Puentes and J.
Page 226 and 227: 225 Rodríguez, J. and M. Villa (19
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Population, territory and sustainable development

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