ABSTRACT
Urbanization and large cities have been long seen as symbols of ‘progress’ or, as it has become more usual to say from the 1950s onwards, of ‘development.’ This chapter aims to show the extent to which the dimension of environmental injustice corresponds to a key parameter of analysis of the grotesque contradictions of Latin American urbanization – and at the same time a parameter of reflection about the incongruences and weaknesses of the ‘economic development’ discourse as such. It concentrates on three main types of urban environmental problem or conflict: waste dumping and its links with residential segregation; exclusionary forms of ‘environmental protection’; and unequal access to water. The concrete access to vital resources such as water has been increasingly mediated by the ‘world of commodities.’.
