Resumen

GARZA, Néstor. Urban economic-environmental dilemas in Latin American cities. Investig. desarro. [online]. 2009, vol.17, n.2, pp.288-327. ISSN 0121-3261.

This article describes how government intervention on urban land markets that keeps low prices and deactivates speculation, has been associated in the USA with sprawl development and a wide range of environmental implications. In the same way, it is argued that in Latin America these types of policies have not been implemented and compact cities with high rents have been privileged through these interventions. This has increased urban and environmental problems related with the under-provision of public goods to make possible the development of high densities. This paper also describes the process that supports urban planning in developed countries and in Latin America. At the regional level, the paper points out a lack of conceptual frameworks that can explain the phenomenon of urbanization. Based on the knowledge on this subject contained in the article, it can be concluded that it is unavoidable to face an economic and environmental trade off in the development of urban planning that can be summarized as follows: urban land policy implies low prices and suburbanization with undesirable consequences, but, its absence determines high prices with high densities that require costly infrastructure spending.

Palabras clave : Urban planning; land price; sprawl development.

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