ABSTRACT
The historical experience of Latino communities is marked by segregation, poverty, and discrimination. Through a critical understanding of the effects of cultural, economic, and governance processes on urbanization patterns, placemakers start to reverse these effects in the contemporary moment. This chapter presents an account of the challenges, opportunities, and agents of change in the three historical periods of pre-end of Second World War, post-war, and in contemporary Latino communities, with a focus on Mexican Americans in the US Southwest. 1
