Latino Urbanism: The Politics of Planning, Policy, and Development

摘要

This anthology meets an important need; it focuses on Latinos, who by 2050 are projected to comprise 30% of the US population. The readings impart knowledge often dismissed by university courses, filling an epistemological gap. In the case of Latinos, the hole turns out to be a chasm. This neglect is nowhere more obvious than in academia. Professor David Diaz teaches in the heart of Los Angeles, a Mexican city, where over 50% of the population is Latino. The total Latino population of the US numbers more than 55 million - counted as a nation, this would be the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. US population of Mexican origin stands at some 36 million and will increase by way of natural reproduction and immigration. Diaz's essay, 'Barrios and Planning Ideology: The Failure of Suburbia and the Dialectics of New Urbanism', draws attention to the neglect evident in urban planning, calling it 'a Eurocentric and market-driven profession [that] has appropriated ... [the field] as its own in a blatant attempt to evade accountability for the systematic failures arising from its long-term adherence to the suburban model of planning'. In other words, planning uses a white middle-class model at a time when populations of cities like Los Angeles are nearly two-thirds people of color.