Urban Planning in Latin America: Myth or Reality

Abstract

Around the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, it appeared an intellectual movement which considered that disorder in the settlement of territories was due to a lack of organization in decision making and that planning was the instrument needed to strengthen the way to general development. In reference to urban aspects, it was thought that urban planning -understood as “the discipline with the purpose of prevision, guidance and promotion of the physical conditioning and regulations of land use in urban centres” (MVC, 1985). There were taken as examples the new cities construction programs in Europe and some showcases in Latin America such as Brasilia. However, a recent view to the Latin American cities shows that almost all them have overcrowding problems, slums and disorder in their peripheral settlements which increase, to a great deal, the risks to disasters. Such is the Peruvian case where land invasions to form urban settlements have multiplied, especially along roads where municipal planning never was thought. Then, the question is what happened with planning? This paper looks for answers to this question and to search if it is possible to return to the public policy frameworks to allow a better ordering of our land use forms