urbanization and metropolization processes in Latin America

Some elements for reflection

Abstract

This article highlights the mais socio-spatial processes analyzed in the investigation of urban and metropolitan phenomena in Latin America, using a socio-critical perspective, as well as new theoretical insights from urban political ecology. A literature review was conducted across a range of fields, including geography, urban and rural sociology, and environmental studies, using academic articles, book chapters and books (physical and virtual) to identify core processes of urban and metropolitan phenomena and the implementation of analytical categories. The paper highlights three key aspects: a) the most representative socio-spatial processes from studies analyzing Latin American urban and metropolitan spaces; b) the main approaches and researchers in the critical theory of urban and metropolitan processes; and c) the consolidation of the so-called Spatial Turn as a way of understanding the configuration of urban and metropolitan phenomena through the emergence of new interdisciplinary, theoretical fields, that have used notions of environmental and spatial justice to highlight the impacts of the capitalist production of space.