From Polarization to Fragmentation. Recent Changes in Latin American Urbanization

Abstract

In most Latin American cities the polarization between rich and poor quarters in the urban fabric (ciudad rica and ciudad pobre) is - although still visible - weakening. New rich quarters rising in formerly poor neighbourhoods seem to suggest that the texture of society is changing and that rich and poor are beginning to mix. Yet, on closer inspection, it immediately becomes obvious that socio-spatial segregation has become more pronounced. The millionaires in the hermetically closed off luxury quarters mostly do not care less about the social environment beyond the walls of their communities They are islands of the rich located within an ocean of poverty. Accordingly, Janoschka (2002a) called contemporary Buenos Aires a ‘City of islands’, and the islanders are the ones who have won. Indeed, they are ‘los que ganaron’, as Svampa (2001) has pointed out.