ABSTRACT
Urbanization has been an important driver in the region’s emergence and economic transformation, but confronted by fiscal challenges, persistent income vulnerability, and recurrent disasters, cities in Latin America and the Caribbean region need to drive change through more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient development. This chapter explores how recent behavioral changes can help achieve this through shifting the urban planning emphasis to the neighborhood, as social and economic units at the human scale that can be connected within a network to form the city. Socio-spatial differences might be bridged through social diversity and inclusionary policies, mixed land use instruments, smart densities, more equitable urban service standards, sustainable housing alternatives, and the socio-economic integration of low-income neighborhoods. Last, the current juncture also offers an opportunity to scale up efforts to promote policies that promote more equitably distributed urbanization, geographically across countries and within cities.
