Sustainable cities: challenges and opportunities for Latin America
Keywords:
sustainable cities, urban planning, climate resilience, sustainable mobility, urban justice, Latin America.Abstract
Latin America is one of the world’s most urbanised regions and faces challenges associated with peripheral expansion, socio-spatial inequality, pollution, inadequate mobility, housing deficits, climate vulnerability and limited institutional coordination. This article analyses the challenges and opportunities for advancing sustainable cities in the region through a literature review of publications issued between 2015 and 2025. The literature was organised around six themes: urban planning and growth; mobility and decarbonisation; climate resilience and risk management; equity and access to services; green infrastructure and environmental quality; and governance, innovation and the circular economy. Findings show that dispersed urban expansion increases infrastructure costs, deepens car dependency and occupies valuable land. At the same time, the unequal distribution of housing, transport, green spaces and services exposes vulnerable groups to environmental risks and longer travel times. Opportunities include integrating land-use and mobility planning, electrifying public transport, regenerating consolidated areas, implementing nature-based solutions, managing waste through circular approaches and using urban information to support transparent decisions. However, these measures require stable funding, municipal capabilities, metropolitan cooperation and meaningful citizen participation. The review concludes that Latin American urban sustainability does not depend on importing technological models but on coordinating climate, social and territorial policies adapted to the conditions of each city, with an emphasis on urban justice, risk prevention, multilevel governance and continuous evaluation of results. Such an approach can transform urban assets, reduce structural inequalities and ensure that sustainability transitions do not leave disadvantaged communities or peripheral territories behind in rapidly changing metropolitan and intermediate-city contexts.
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