ABSTRACT
The immense urban transformation of Latin America during the past half-century has had a profound impact on the lives of the people in the region. This chapter describes the growing urban world of Latin America by focusing primarily on the efforts of the low- and modest-income urban population to develop and sustain their lives in conditions of inequality and exploitation, with very little assistance from the state. Many popular urban movements arose in response to the extremely difficult economic times brought on by the recession and neoliberal economic policies. To an important degree, they represent a strategy for survival. The chapter provides a sketch of some of the principal challenges facing the urban poor. It shows how the urban poor are enmeshed in and frequently dependent on a wide and varied range of market, economic, and political circumstances or relationships that influence their behavior and shape and restrict their opportunities.
