ABSTRACT
Latin American cities have been profoundly influenced by the forces of globalization. This chapter begins with a review of three phases of urban design history in Latin America prior to this century. Following this, it addresses several key issues and challenges facing urban design in Latin America. First, it argues for the importance of Latino “slow urbanism” and its impact on the transformation of urban space, especially in and around the urban core; second, it contemplates a critical change in Latin American metropolitan regions: the evolution of what can be termed “global suburbs” on urban peripheries. These “global suburbs” – middle- and upper-class enclaves that have been built on the periphery of cities over the last three decades – display some of the same socio-economic, environmental, and urban design challenges that plague US suburbs. Finally, the chapter describes an emerging 21st-century urban design prototype – the “transfrontier metropolis” on the Mexico-US border, a zone that serves as a living laboratory of globalization and urban design change in the Americas.
