ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a number of experiences in metropolitan intermunicipal cooperation in Latin America. In the course of the 1990s international development agencies have become increasingly interested in cooperating directly with local authorities around the themes of environmental planning and management. Urban authorities are under considerable pressure from various, sometimes conflicting, interests to improve their performance. The pioneer local initiatives promoting sustainable urban development in Latin America were the metropolitan cities of Bogota and Curitiba. Regional metropolitan areas are characterised by dispersed and yet highly integrated settlement patterns within which several towns and cities with relatively low concentrations of population perform complementary functions in the provision of services and infrastructure and in the development of economic activities. Metropolitan environmental planning and management must address the challenge of improving local conditions without eroding the ecological capacities beyond their boundaries.
