Challenges for sustainable development of cities in Latin America an the Caribbean

Abstract

The sustainable development of the cities of Latin America and the Caribbean poses challenges for the urban territorial policies at their local, subnational, national and regional levels. It requires the convergence in the urban space of the necessity of internalizing the environmental costs (via improvement of the management and governability of the associated systems), assuming and solving social inequities (via improvement of urban habitability and the investement of capitals), and the recognition and approach to economic restrictions related to efficiency (by improving the offer of financing). This work discusses these themes in their social, economic and environmental dimensions, applied to the sustainable development in the region, focused both on present limitations and opportunities, as well as on the regional process in terms of political reforms, implementation of programs and the development of projects. It is suggested that there conditions or factors that systematically fail in the development and implementation of policies aiming at this objective. One of these factors refers to the governability of the system, meaning by this, the characteristics of the relationships between actors (urban management and political will included), and the formal and informal rules. The latter incorporates the institutional and normative frame that governs politics.