by Andrea Carrión
Urban megaprojects are contentious sites in the politics and restructuring of local governance. In Ecuador, the state supported entrepreneurial urban governance under neoliberal administrations, and the “post-neoliberal” governments continue to employ an entrepreneurial approach to urban infrastructures. Building urban megaprojects does not mean building inclusive territories, as large investments divert attention from everyday practices to politically motivated disputes and reinforce uneven spatial development. The case of the Quito international airport illustrates the tensions in the production of space, the socio-spatial externalities, and the rescaling of the power relations between actors under different political regimes.
