The urban space and the (re)production of social inequalities. Decoupling income distribution and patterns of urbanization in Latin American cities

Abstract

The chapter focus on urban space and the (re)production of social inequalities in Latin American cities. Following the evolution of income distribution and the development of patterns of urbanization in the last three decades in the region, the chapter shows that the relation between both dimensions is not linear or mechanic. In this direction, the chapter holds the existence of a paradoxical movement in the relations between the city and inequality in Latin America. While many countries in the region have implemented policies that have achieved a reduction in income inequality in the last decade, the expansion of fragmented metropolitan areas initiated in the 1970s continues and this expansion impacts not only in the access to the city and its goods, but also consolidates socially segregated networks that reduce possibilities of upward social mobility. There is, then, a complex articulation between a process of falling income inequality and the continuity of a pattern of exclusive urbanization. The chapter hypothesizes that we are dealing with a decoupling that impinges precisely on distributive policies implemented in the region, and limits them.