Patrones de expansión urbana de las megaurbes latinoamericanas en el Nuevo Milenio

Neoliberal policies modify urbanization, now adjusted by market laws in which the real estate sector acquires an increasingly important role. In this article, we analyze the evolution of the population density and the morphology of the four megacities of Latin America: Buenos Aires, Mexico City, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The results show that urban sprawl is increasingly dispersed and spatially segmented. This pattern of urbanization is linked with the real estate sector, which built dwellings in the metropolitan periphery from a market location logic that fosters spatial fragmentation. This study expresses the imperative need of effective territorial planning in order to limit the use of the non-urbanized territory and to ensure human development in the new urban peripheries.