Latin-American Studies

During the past fifty years, the development process of cities has been remarkable in Latin America. The rate of urbanization was very rapid and in the first decade of 19th century there were large cities that sprang up in Latin America, such as Buenos Aires in Argentina and Lima city in Peru. Research indicates that the rapid growth of cities was significant in the years between 1930 and 1970(Joseph and Szuchman, 1948).

The socio-economic reasons that led to growth of cities like Buenos Aires in Argentina include the following The high rate of immigrants from different parts of the world to Argentina was one of the reasons behind the growth of Buenos Aires because immigrants provided cheap labor in this city which helped increase the volume of production for goods produced for home consumption and export (Wanda, 2010). Research shows that some of the immigrants remained in Argentina and started small scale business projects, shop keeping and others became liberal professionals as some served as office workers. This enabled immigrants to have a steady source of income that was essential for sustaining their families. Evidence has it that the childrens of some immigrants in the city of Buenos Aires climbed ladders in the economic sphere through setting up larger industries that generated high revenue to the city  (Wanda, 2010).

Slaves in Buenos Aires played a big role toward the growth of the city since they were greatly involved in income generating activities and they as well provided slave labor to colonial landowners. The land owners used the cheap labor offered by slaves to enrich themselves and eventually channeled their abnormal profits into their business, thereby leading to the evolution of the city (Joseph and Szuchman, 1948).

The period between 1880 and 1990, Argentina witnessed faster growth of its cities as a result of rapid expansion of foreign investment in infrastructure and agriculture. The introduction of new methods of agriculture and incorporating Argentina in the world economy enabled the city to realize tremendous level of growth, since high level of investment was realized in areas like rail roads and airports so as to facilitate easier transportation of agricultural products into world markets. The improved rail roads and airports facilitated the movement of both people and produced goods to areas of need this led to higher overflow of finance into the country that was used to stimulate growth of Buenos Aires (B.W.H.A, 2009). The city of Buenos Aires was encircled by huge fertile land that promoted agricultural activities within the area. Similarly, the city registered tremendous growth because it acted as a midpoint of transporting agricultural goods to the world market. The presence of refrigerated ships significantly amplified its capacity to ship beef to distant places in its original state and above all Buenos Aires had the largest clothing industry which had high rate of financial returns to the city that enhanced its tremendous growth of in the 19th century. The clothing industry provided jobs to many people thereby reducing the rate of unemployment (Glaser, 2009). Its therefore pertinent to note that the reemergence of Buenos Aires was as a result of multiplicity of factors as above discussed.

The growth of Lima began taking position during the 19th century, the time when Peru was recovering from destructive war of pacific that had diverse negative consequences. The socio-economic reasons behind the growth of Lima city were as follows The growth of this city was attributed to protection of the industry where agriculture, commerce in the city existed as monopoly. This enabled the industrial sector to obtain high interests on its capital. The capitalist and industrialist in their bid to achieve their aims requested for strong importation tariffs so as to prevent similar products from being imported into the country. This monopoly industry in Lima comprised of well established financial bankers, collectors, lenders and import houses that were very powerful and difficult to destroy. The industrial sector in Lima therefore, was significant in the growth of the city (Joseph and Szuchman, 1948).

Migration of individuals from rural settings to urban areas and more specifically Lima city, as a result of tendency of people to follow their family, development of migration organization among others enabled provision of labor to industries within the city which increased the level of output. In 1950, the growth trends of the city accelerated due to expansion of the fishing industry and thus Peru started to industrialize its economy in a strong-minded way. Foreigners therefore played a vital role in the Peru economy, as they exploited the natural resources hence escalating the export volume which generated a lot of money to the country, resulting to the growth of Lima (Glaeser, 2009).

An internal population change in Peru from seven million to twenty million by 1985 was essential for the rise of Lima city since the high population served as a stable source of labor to the city. Research shows that by 1985 half of the seven million people in Lima were living in informal houses and no less than half of the population was either deployed in informal sector.

Lima city was also able to realize faster rates of growth because of existence of clever contractors and auctioneers who observed the small mishaps of things and made analysis of all officials and employees in the country. This made workers to observe high level of professionalism free from corruption, bribery and other sorts of injustices. Those found violating the law were to face the long hand of the law. This made all workers to be dedicated, thereby steering the growth of Lima city (Glaeser, 2009).