The street of Latin America. Theory and intervention

Abstract

The spatial mobility system plays an essential role in cities by structuring urban growth, allowing accessibility and influencing the environmental, economic and social aspects of public space. Despite this theoretical conception, the need to solve the problems derived from mobility in Latin America has prompted interventions that, in most cases, have contemplated for their design functional criteria that respond to the motor transport system. The present work characterizes two lines of thinking about mobility and urban planning worldwide, and then analyzes under this lens three cases of road spaces designed and executed at different times in Latin American cities: Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá and Medellín. This leads to reflect on the relationship between theoretical proposals, and the practice of design and construction of road networks.