Urban Segregation and Governance in the Americas

Residential segregation is a key issue for good governance in Latin American cities. The isolation of people of different social classes or ethnicities has potential political and social consequences, including differential access to and quality of education, health and other services. This volume uses the recent availability of geo-coded census data and techniques of spatial analysis to conduct the first detailed comparative examination of residential segregation in six major Latin American metropolises, with Austin, Texas, as a US comparison. It demonstrates the high degree of residential segregation of contemporary Latin American cities and discusses implications for the welfare of urban residents.

"This book is a pioneering effort in its comparative approach, as it looks at both Latin American and US examples. For this reason it fills a void in this particular area of socio-economic segregation studies." - Perry Mars, Professor of Africana Studies, Wayne State University

"This book isa"must read"for anyone withaserious interest in addressing critical social policy in the context of the challenges posed by the idiosyncrasies of the Latin American urbanization process. Combining new techniques of analysis, improved data sources and a comprehensive theoretical base (not commonly found in the existing literature)with a creative inversion of the conventional line of argument, the book provides a fresh lookat the role of segregation patterns on key themes of the region's social policy agenda,such as urban poverty and access to servicesincluding education and health.No doubt,this isa book that fills a critical void between land use and planning and public governance in the current Latin American urban policy debate." - Martim Oscar Smolka, Senior Fellow and Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Program, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

"This edited volume is an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in urban studies, policy, and planning. While the literature on U.S. cities has focused on racial segregation, the book offersimportant lessons about urbanization and socioeconomic inequality byexamining the magnitude and nature ofclass segregation in LatinAmerican cities. The cross-national comparison yields theoretical and practical insights about the

role of the market and state in structuring urban space, and theconsequences of spatial patterns on inequality. At the same time, the chaptersreveal a fundamental tendency for socioeconomic segregation within urban society and the adverse impact on the distribution of and accessto resources and phenomena that U.S. cities and Latin American citiesshare." - Paul Ong, Professor at the School of Public Affairs, UCLA

BRYAN R. ROBERTS is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and the current Director of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
ROBERT H.WILSON is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Research and Mike Hogg Professor of Urban Policy, LBJ School of Public Affairs, at the University of Texas-Austin, USA.