Abstract

GARCIA-JEREZ, Francisco Adolfo. Urban Extractivism and its Ecoterritorial Turn. A View from Latin American. Bitácora Urbano Territorial [online]. 2019, vol.29, n.2, pp.21-28.  Epub Aug 30, 2019. ISSN 0124-7913.  https://doi.org/10.15446/bitacora.v29n2.77284.

Can we consider the new stage of urbanization as an extractivist process? Is the city a new commodity within capitalist logic? These are the questions I wish to address in this text. The objective is to reflect on the possibility of extrapolating the dynamics that are substantive to classical extractivism to the realm of the urban. My hypothesis points out that some of the characteristics of that classic extractivism can be observed in urban production in Latin America; for example, conceiving the territory as an income field, the tendency to privatize public management and the entry into play of financial capital. However, there is a great difference between the two. While classic extractive industries, located in rural areas, are part of a discussion agenda thanks to the ecoterritorial shift, the phenomenon of urban extractive industries is now being thought of as a public and political problem to be taken into consideration.

Keywords : extractivism; city; Latin America; commodity; urbanization.

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