Assessment of urban-territorial integration in Colombia

Abstract

The urban emphasis given by the New Urban Agenda (NUA) is complemented by a commitmet to integrate cities and their hinterland, which seeks to promote an equitable and balanced regional development. However, in the former, there are few details on how such integration can be achieved. This is a matter of special relevance in Latin America, where regional inequality is a key element in any discussion on development. An analysis of the Colombian case is presented here, starting from a review of the theoretical implications on equity and balance stated in NUA, and their comparison with different theoretical approaches and conceptual proposals on regional development. In this study, municipal level indicators are used to show how the relationship between large cities and their hinterland is not as linear as the NUA suggests, and that urban prosperity can often generate regional imbalances that require specific consideration.