Abstract, Dealing with Dangerous Spaces The Construction of Urban Policy in Medellín

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Dealing with Dangerous Spaces
The Construction of Urban Policy in Medellín
by Luisa Sotomayor


In Latin America, cities with security challenges are increasingly invoking urban planning policy to rebuild governance in neighborhoods perceived as unruly. While the state’s “arrival” in marginalized areas is long overdue, it is also embedded in complex histories of violence and socio-spatial marginalization. Medellín’s Comuna 13 has historically been materially and discursively constructed as a space of relegation. Interview and focus group data show how policy cycles for Comuna 13 evolved from discretionary programs (1978–2002) to securitization and (para)militarization (2000–2003) and then social urbanism, a program of participatory urban upgrading (2004–2011). The latter, a reformist approach, aims to provide better services, foster participation, and reduce socio-spatial segregation. Underlying these positive aims, however, two contradictions remain concealed: deep-seated inequality resulting from decades of normalized exclusion and the perpetuation of a regime of hypersecuritization and (para)policing that recreates itself under new governance and spatial arrangements.

Abstract, Urban Governance and Economic Development in Medellín An “Urban Miracle”?

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Urban Governance and Economic Development in Medellín An “Urban Miracle”?
by Tobias Franz


Many of the academic analyses calling Medellín’s development an “urban miracle” fall short with regard to discussion of the political economic implications of institutional shifts. An emerging transnational capitalist class promoted ‘good governance’ reforms and the embedding of neoliberalism in the urban context. Medellín’s neoliberal development agenda is not only a market-led strategy but also a particular form of hierarchic rule and distribution of power. Increased economic activities in the tertiary sector, the promotion of flexible labor markets, and the incorporation of the city into the global economy at the lower end of the value chain have not served as sustainable growth escalators for Medellín’s economy. The city continues to have high rates of un- and underemployment and is still the country’s most unequal city. These developments can by no means be described as miraculous.

Abstract, Failed Markets The Crisis in the Private Production of Social Housing in Mexico

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Failed Markets
The Crisis in the Private Production of Social Housing in Mexico
by Alfonso Valenzuela Aguilera


A confluence between the state, the housing market, and the rationale of financial capital has led to excessive growth of social housing in Mexico in the past two decades. This growth has been one way of channeling excess capital into global financial markets rather than the result of a public policy to address the housing needs of the low-income population.

Abstract, The Future of Global Peripheral Cities

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Future of Global Peripheral Cities
by Erminia Maricato


In June 2013 an unprecedented movement spearheaded by young people took to the streets of Brazilian cities. Despite the diversity of explanations of the protests, one thing became clear: the urban question was at the center of events. Brazil has become an international role model for its innovations in social policy and even urban policy. There have been social struggles for a democratic city. New policies, new programs, new projects, and a Ministry of Cities have been created. This democratic and participatory process has taken place in the context of fiscal adjustment and therefore contention over resources. When the federal government resumed investment in cities following a developmentalist project, capital linked to the production of space took over the leadership of the urban process and the virtuous cycle of urban policy declined. Investment in works directed by the real estate market in the context of mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics together with tax relief for the purchase of automobiles deepened the deterioration of urban living conditions, especially housing and mobility.

Abstract, Participation without Power The Failure of Citizen Participation in Barranquilla

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Participation without Power
The Failure of Citizen Participation in Barranquilla
by Florian Koch and Lina María Sánchez Steiner


Citizen participation has become an important political strategy. A case study of the Barranquilla land-use plan employing Fung and Wright’s theories on countervailing power reveals that the citizen participation promoted to comply with legal requirements was a failure because it was manipulated by the dominant public actor. In societies such as that of Barranquilla, which employs traditional modes of politics, there is little chance of fostering successful participatory processes because there is no countervailing power to offset the established one. The violent context that surrounds the political sphere, low confidence in state institutions, and the convergence of economic and political power prevent the creation of strong and independent countervailing powers.

Abstract, Power, Policy, and Citizen Participation in Santo André, Brazil

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Power, Policy, and Citizen Participation in Santo André, Brazil
by Victor Albert


City master plans assumed a central role in urban planning in Brazil with the promulgation of a new constitution in 1988 and the passage of enacting legislation in 2001. Citizen participation became an important part of this new urban planning framework. In contrast to some of Brazil’s other democratic experiments, participation in urban planning has been received critically or with only cautious optimism. A comparison of two participatory forums in Santo André, São Paulo, shows that established patterns of administrative power can decisively influence the participation of the public in city planning. Differences in the executive structures of the two institutions enabled one of them but not the other to foster open-ended deliberation on policies with members of disadvantaged groups. The study suggests that participation might be enhanced by reserving executive positions for civil society participants, including the public at all stages of policy development, choosing participants largely from disadvantaged groups, and keeping the forum small.

Abstract, Urban Policy, Social Movements, and the Right to the City in Brazil

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Urban Policy, Social Movements, and the Right to the City in Brazil
by Abigail Friendly


Brazilian urban social movements have played a key role in bringing about change in urban policy since the 1980s and in light of the widespread protests across the country in June 2013. This insurgency and the urban reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s exemplify waves of mobilization and demobilization, signaling positive change at the level of praxis. More recent events have highlighted challenges for Brazil’s political left.

Abstract, Worlding Bogotá’s Ciclovía From Urban Experiment to International “Best Practice”

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Worlding Bogotá’s Ciclovía
From Urban Experiment to International “Best Practice”
by Sergio Montero


“Best practices” are either celebrated as inspirational examples that can spur policy change and learning in other places or critiqued as “one-size-fits-all” models that do not consider the complexity of local contexts. Less is known about the forms of power, governance, and legitimacy that are embedded in the construction and mobilization of certain policies as world policy models. This article critically examines the concept of “best practice” by analyzing the case of Bogotá’s Ciclovía, a weekly 70-mile street-closure program to promote urban biking and physical exercise. The analysis sheds light on the shifting rationalities and constellations of local and transnational actors, networks, and agendas that have shaped the program from its experimental beginnings in the 1970s through its construction as an international “best practice” in the 2000s.

Abstract, Conflict and Convergence between Experts and Citizens Bogotá’s TransMilenio

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Conflict and Convergence between Experts and Citizens Bogotá’s TransMilenio
by Stacey L. Hunt


TransMilenio, the mass transit system inaugurated in Bogotá at the turn of the millennium, was a technocratic development achievement. Citizens and experts alike held the system in high esteem initially. Over time, however, technocratic knowledge increasingly conflicted with citizens’ experiences, and riders grew extremely dissatisfied with the system. Some experts attempted to depoliticize policy decisions, demobilize civil society, and redefine citizenship as the consumption of services, but citizens continued to participate in myriad ways, protesting in the streets, barricading the system, organizing rider “strikes,” deploying their own expert knowledge, and seeking electoral office in order to inform policy decisions pertaining to the system. The distribution and importance of expertise in shaping the system challenges dichotomous understandings of state and society and highlights the differentiation of citizenship under neoliberal governance.

March Issue, Urban Latin America: Part 2: Planning Latin American Cities: Dependencies and "Best Practices"

TABLE OF CONTENTS Urban Latin America: Part 2: Planning Latin American Cities: Dependencies and "Best Practices" Edited by: Tom Angotti and Clara Irazábal

Issue 213 | Volume 44 | Number 2 | March 2017

Urban planning in Latin America reflects the historic dependencies and inequalities of peripheral capitalism. These were amplified by recent neoliberal reforms in housing, transportation and social policy. This issue looks critically at urban reforms in these areas, the role of social movements and the emergence of "best practices" including social urbanism, bus rapid transit, bicycle infrastructure, and participatory budgeting, with more to come in the next LAP issue.

Abstract, Dealing with Dangerous Spaces The Construction of Urban Policy in Medellín

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Dealing with Dangerous Spaces
The Construction of Urban Policy in Medellín
by Luisa Sotomayor


In Latin America, cities with security challenges are increasingly invoking urban planning policy to rebuild governance in neighborhoods perceived as unruly. While the state’s “arrival” in marginalized areas is long overdue, it is also embedded in complex histories of violence and socio-spatial marginalization. Medellín’s Comuna 13 has historically been materially and discursively constructed as a space of relegation. Interview and focus group data show how policy cycles for Comuna 13 evolved from discretionary programs (1978–2002) to securitization and (para)militarization (2000–2003) and then social urbanism, a program of participatory urban upgrading (2004–2011). The latter, a reformist approach, aims to provide better services, foster participation, and reduce socio-spatial segregation. Underlying these positive aims, however, two contradictions remain concealed: deep-seated inequality resulting from decades of normalized exclusion and the perpetuation of a regime of hypersecuritization and (para)policing that recreates itself under new governance and spatial arrangements.

Abstract, Urban Governance and Economic Development in Medellín An “Urban Miracle”?

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Urban Governance and Economic Development in Medellín An “Urban Miracle”?
by Tobias Franz


Many of the academic analyses calling Medellín’s development an “urban miracle” fall short with regard to discussion of the political economic implications of institutional shifts. An emerging transnational capitalist class promoted ‘good governance’ reforms and the embedding of neoliberalism in the urban context. Medellín’s neoliberal development agenda is not only a market-led strategy but also a particular form of hierarchic rule and distribution of power. Increased economic activities in the tertiary sector, the promotion of flexible labor markets, and the incorporation of the city into the global economy at the lower end of the value chain have not served as sustainable growth escalators for Medellín’s economy. The city continues to have high rates of un- and underemployment and is still the country’s most unequal city. These developments can by no means be described as miraculous.

Abstract, Failed Markets The Crisis in the Private Production of Social Housing in Mexico

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Failed Markets
The Crisis in the Private Production of Social Housing in Mexico
by Alfonso Valenzuela Aguilera


A confluence between the state, the housing market, and the rationale of financial capital has led to excessive growth of social housing in Mexico in the past two decades. This growth has been one way of channeling excess capital into global financial markets rather than the result of a public policy to address the housing needs of the low-income population.

Abstract, The Future of Global Peripheral Cities

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Future of Global Peripheral Cities
by Erminia Maricato


In June 2013 an unprecedented movement spearheaded by young people took to the streets of Brazilian cities. Despite the diversity of explanations of the protests, one thing became clear: the urban question was at the center of events. Brazil has become an international role model for its innovations in social policy and even urban policy. There have been social struggles for a democratic city. New policies, new programs, new projects, and a Ministry of Cities have been created. This democratic and participatory process has taken place in the context of fiscal adjustment and therefore contention over resources. When the federal government resumed investment in cities following a developmentalist project, capital linked to the production of space took over the leadership of the urban process and the virtuous cycle of urban policy declined. Investment in works directed by the real estate market in the context of mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics together with tax relief for the purchase of automobiles deepened the deterioration of urban living conditions, especially housing and mobility.

Introduction, Planning Latin American Cities Dependencies and “Best Practices”

:::::: Introduction ::::::

Planning Latin American Cities
Dependencies and “Best Practices”
by Tom Angotti and Clara Irazábal


Latin America is the most urbanized region in the world, with over 80 percent of the population living in cities (United Nations Human Settlements Program, 2012). Yet most of its cities lack the basic infrastructure and services enjoyed in the North, are sharply divided into luxury enclaves and sprawling peripheries, and reflect deep social and economic inequalities.1 Alongside the growth of urban industry and trade, there is widespread violence, congestion, and pollution. Despite some progressive urban reforms promoted by social movements aimed at improving the quality of life, powerful ruling oligarchies are fragmenting cities to build financial districts, shopping malls, stadiums, and gated luxury enclaves, neglecting the problems in the daily lives of the majority of the population. When the land they are living on is coveted for new development, the poor are pushed out by market forces or unceremoniously evicted, continuing the long history of displacement and accumulation by dispossession of capitalist urbanization. The majority of the urban population lives in peripheral areas that lack basic services and infrastructure until they are singled out as profitable real estate investment targets (Irazábal, 2009).