ABSTRACT

This book evaluates the impact of 20 years of urban policies in six Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. It argues that evaluating the fulfillment of past commitments is essential for framing and meeting the new commitments that were taken in Habitat III over the next 20 years.

Taken as a whole, the book provides a critical assessment of the economic, social and environmental consequences of urban interventions during Habitat II. The country-level chapters have been written by recognized experts in urban issues, with first-hand knowledge of the Habitat process, and deep familiarity with the problems, statistics, actors and political contexts of their nations. The latter part of the volume considers wider topics such as the Habitat Commitment Index, the New Urban Agenda and the regional and global-scale lessons that can be extracted from this group of countries.

Urban Policy in Latin America will be of interest to advanced students, researchers and policymakers across development economics, urban studies and Latin American studies.

chapter 2|11 pages

The evolution of urban policy in developing countries

A comparative and historical perspective

chapter 3|57 pages

Mexico: from Habitat II to Habitat III

Assessment of the commitments undertaken

chapter 4|33 pages

Chile

Housing without city

chapter 5|31 pages

Brazil: confronting the urban question in Brazil: 1996–2016

A politico-institutional assessment 1

chapter 6|58 pages

Colombia

The singularity of housing policy in urban development

chapter 7|58 pages

Argentina

20 years of Habitat II: the pending subjects

chapter 8|46 pages

Ecuador

From Istanbul to Quito

chapter 9|25 pages

A global quantitative perspective

The Habitat Commitment Index

chapter 10|20 pages

From tiers to tears

Measuring city performance using the Habitat Commitment Index

chapter 11|13 pages

Six countries and twenty years

A transversal reading of Latin American urban policy

chapter 12|13 pages

Conclusion: habitat in debt and future assets

Towards a new inclusive urban practice