Cities in the South American Development: Bogota, Lima, Quito, and Santiago in Regional Frame

Abstract

The city is where the results and contradictions of regional development are depicted and observed; such as growth, wellbeing, inequality, and informality within a determined global position. South America is not an exception to this. It is one of the regions with the highest level of urbanization in the world (80%), with almost one third of its population residing in cities of more than one million inhabitants (ECLAC 2014). These factors intensify the visibility and the importance of the metropolitan government. Above all, if we consider that, in addition to the classic South American development problems (informality, inequality, lack of infrastructure, wellbeing, among others), there are other complexities, which are the product of the insertion of its countries in the global stage (migration, organized crime, illegal trafficking, and others). In this case, the discussion takes place from the point of view of institutionalism and responsibilities, as a way to determine the characteristics and the administration models assigned to different cities in this analysis, as a response to a complex and conflictive globalization process as well as the internationalization of the South American cities.

This work was possible thanks to financial support of the Technological and Scientific Research National Commission from Chile through the projects N° 1141157 and N° 15110020.