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Shrinking Cities South/North Research Seminar | 14 & 15 JULY 2008 | Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL.
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With the emergence of newly industrializing economies, urban decline, associated with deindustrialization, has been a major factor afflicting cities of affluent countries. However, the fate and fortune of cities in newly industrializing nations have not been immune to the vagaries of new waves of economic restructuring associated with rapid technological change and capital mobility. The so-called post-industrial tendency of industries and services to “move up” the technological ladder and “move out” to lower cost locations has affected Latin American cities since the 1980s. Initially as destinations of outsourced production from affluent nations, Latin American cities have recently experienced the “moving out” (without the moving up) of manufacturing to China, the world’s second largest economy and the preferred destination for much of the world’s manufacturing shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific Rim. Large Latin American cities from Mexico to Brazil have experienced peripheral dispersion of manufacturing along with inner city population loss and urban decline. The newly industrializing subcenters in the metropolitan periphery are the sites for new industrial investment, but also the most vulnerable to international capital flight to Asia. In this sense, driven by global economic processes, Latin American cities appear to be converging with Northern cities and experiencing similar trends in urban growth and decline. This two-day miniconference gathers scholars from Latin American universities and from the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCiRN) to exchange ideas and research on these issues with an eye on building a publishable journal symposium or book and a fundable research agenda. |
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Dr. Ivonne Audirac Department of Urban and Regional Planning Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-2280 |
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Contact |
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E-mail: iaudirac@fsu.edu |
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Department of Urban and Regional Planning College of Social Sciences |