ABSTRACT
Early 21st-century urbanization in the Americas can be viewed as a collision between the forces of tradition and those of globally driven change. A driving force in how urban space is valued and used in Latin America is the region’s historic emphasis on the traditional center, or downtown. The origins of the power of “centrality” can be traced to the era of colonial town planning, when the Spanish royal family coordinated plans for the design of its colonial city via an Imperial system of governance and control. During the 19th century, European immigration increased, and in Latin America, linear corridors extending from the downtown core defined the new zones of high-status and upper-income residence. Meanwhile, the poor remained in emerging slum quarters close to the city center or nearby industrial districts. Latin America’s cities were dramatically reshaped by the ideas of “modernism” in architecture and city planning.
