Latin American city
Latin American cities often have typical common features that can be explained by their socio-historical past.
Typed development phases
Pre-colonial period
Before the colonial era, advanced cultures such as the Aztecs , Maya , Olmecs , Zapotecs and Inca populated today's Latin America. Much of their cities were located on the west and east coasts. In the center of these cities were temples , pyramids , palaces , ceremonial centers, observatories , ball venues and others around the main squares and main routes ; that is why the dwellings were mostly quite disordered.
Examples of such cities are Tenochtitlán (Aztecs, Mexico ), Chichén Itzá (Maya, Mexico), Copán (Maya, Honduras ), Palenque (Maya, Mexico) and Monte Albán near Oaxaca (Zapotec, Mexico). Some cities, mainly in the mountains, were arranged in a system of terraces, stairs and paths, for example Machu Picchu (Inca, Peru ) and the Inca terraces near Písac (Peru).
1550-1840
The Spanish settlers mostly settled in the continental center of the countries and founded new cities, which significantly increased their number. The power centers of previous cultures were either destroyed or overbuilt. As in Spain, the center of the city was the main square, the Plaza Mayor, with the cathedral , town hall and seat of government, surrounded by residential quarters in a checkerboard pattern in square blocks (so-called manzanas or cuadras ) measuring 120 m × 120 m.
1840-1900
The first phase of urbanization began before 1900 with internal migration and immigration, in some cases from other continents. The cities grew cellular.
1900-1950
The second phase of urbanization began when modernization began. Industrialization was driven, among other things, by the increasing development and expansion of the railway infrastructure. The upper class then gradually settled in the outskirts of the city ( city periphery ) (suburbanization). Working-class suburbs are emerging in the periphery. (Sector formation) City centers slowly formed, characterized by trade and consumption. Strong physiognomic urbanization began. Vecindades (residential buildings with shared kitchens and / or bathrooms) were increasingly built. In many cases the cities grew unevenly, e.g. B. along the railroad tracks (asymmetrical building line).
Since 1950
The period since 1950 was mainly characterized by metropolitanization and economic boom. The high quality retail trade moved to the city centers. In parallel, a strong culture of street trading for goods of lesser value and quality developed. Modern core cities with offices and banks often emerged. Due to the strong immigration of mostly impoverished rural residents, a strong slum formation began, which in part also included the abandoned patio houses from the colonial era. As the concentration of auto traffic increased with the upper class moving to the city periphery and overall growth, air pollution became increasingly problematic.
Typical structural features
Spanish city model
The Spanish settlers mostly settled in the continental center of the countries. The main roads are therefore oriented towards centrally located cities. Since the general instruction (1521), all new structural extensions have been laid out according to the checkerboard pattern. The center of the city was the main square, the Plaza de Armas , with the cathedral , town hall and seat of government. It was surrounded by residential areas that were laid out in square blocks (so-called manzanas ) measuring 120 m × 120 m. Around these residential areas was the Ejido Urbano , a square piece of land that was divided into larger parcels (mostly 8 × 8 manzanas ) on which agriculture was carried out.
From the 19th century onwards, the city slowly began to loosen up. However, the checkerboard pattern from the colonial era remained a feature of most cities in Hispanic America. The original residential buildings ( patio houses with inner courtyards) were replaced by larger apartment blocks until the high-rise boom of the 20th century.
Portuguese city model
In the Portuguese-speaking countries, cities were mostly founded on the coast, near natural harbors such as bays, to facilitate trade. There were no geometrical arrangements such as the checkerboard pattern, but the development is based only on the nature of the surroundings (mountains, coast, exposure).
Todays situation
The growth of the cities of Latin America today mostly takes place on the main arterial roads. There industrial areas and, somewhat apart, residential areas are designated, sometimes they also form spontaneously, depending on the influence of the city in the urbanization process. Especially when a large industrial plant dominates the city's economy, separate quarters for the workers in this industry are created near the production site.
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Around the officially designated residential areas there are often rings of informal settlements , mostly inhabited by internal migrants . These often gradually improve - either spontaneously or according to infrastructure programs organized by the state or by non-governmental organizations - their building stock and infrastructure, their land ownership is legalized and they become normal city quarters. An accompanying trend is the relocation of informal settlements to social housing districts on the outskirts.
The districts of the upper and middle classes are often in two clearly distinguishable areas of the city: on the one hand near the center, often in redeveloped districts of the old town, and on the other hand, also on the periphery in residential areas with large plots of land. The second tendency has been growing ever stronger since the 1980s , often large closed residential complexes are built that extend the urban area far into the periphery.
Social characteristics
A common occurrence in Latin American cities is an extreme inequality of housing. While the residential areas of the rich appear comfortable even in European comparison, a sometimes high proportion of the population lives in informal settlements with only rudimentary infrastructure. However, the phenomenon of informal settlements has been on the decline in most Latin American countries since the late 1990s ; The reason is usually not only the slightly better economic situation, but above all a slowdown in the internal migratory movements that these settlements caused in the past.
A common phenomenon in Latin American cities is that the periphery can be divided into socio-economically different zones, the allocation of which corresponds in particular to the scenic-climatic conditions of the respective areas, which make them more or less attractive.
Examples:
- In Buenos Aires , where the Río de la Plata flows from northwest to southeast, the upper class tends to live in the northwest of the city. The largest quarters of the lower class are located southeast of the center, where the river is already polluted by industrial sewage.
- In La Paz , which is over 3,500 m high in a basin and is therefore cold in terms of climate , the upper class lives in the climatically favored lower-lying areas, while the lower class lives on the mountain slopes or on the surrounding plateau in the neighboring town of El Alto .
- The situation is reversed in Córdoba (Argentina) , which is also located in a valley basin and has a warm, temperate climate with many hot days: There the upper class lives mainly in higher, therefore cooler and more scenic suburbs northwest of the city center, while the lower class lives on the periphery lives in the basin itself.
Economic characteristics
The industry is different in the cities of Latin America. In the Andean countries in particular, such as Peru or Bolivia and parts of Central America ( Guatemala , Honduras ), it is only underdeveloped, while in countries such as Brazil and Argentina large industrial areas characterize the cities. The industrial areas are generally located on the main arteries of the cities and are often mixed with residential areas due to the lack of uniform spatial planning.
Problems in large Latin American cities
Urban ecological problems
The ecological problems of Latin American cities often result from the continuous, strong population growth of the cities between 1880 and 1980 , which is mainly due to internal migration. Although this growth has slowed down almost everywhere today, there are still major infrastructure problems that can only be addressed slowly, especially in poorer countries.
Some Latin American cities, for example, have very high concentrations of air pollutants in an international comparison, because green spaces were not created for a long time and industrial companies did not comply with any standards for environmental protection (filtering of exhaust gases). Many cities have no or only inadequate treatment facilities, which has an impact on the quality of drinking water. Another problem is the inadequate waste disposal: either the waste is burned - mostly in open fires without any filtering of pollutants - or it is disposed of in sometimes large landfills that are created without careful studies (e.g. on the impairment of the groundwater).
Slums
In the slums (also known as “ Favelas ” in Brazil , “Ciudades perdidas” in Mexico and “ Barriadas ” in Peru ) people live together in a very small space. The hygienic conditions are often very poor. B. hardly any cloak systems. Therefore, the possibilities for disease to spread are very high. Crime (murder, robbery, rape) is also often higher in large slums than in other areas; drug and arms trafficking is often concentrated in these areas.