Theoretical approaches on social, economic and territorial transformations in contemporary Latin American cities

Abstract

It reviews a conceptual journey through different theoretical approaches about social, economic and territorial transformations in contemporary Latin American cities. To do this, three of the main views shown in literature are developed. The aim is to analyze them in a critical way and subsequently gather them in a more accurate conceptual framework. The main argument is that such transformations are linked to a more general process of capitalist accumulation and its territorial restructuring, consequently they must be classified within this framework to avoid theoretical fragmentation. Historical geographical materialism is proposed as an analytical framework that states that territorial restructuring makes a strategy from the capitalist system to reset the accumulation process during recession and crisis times. Thus, territorial transformations are part of the variety of mechanisms of spatial and temporal adjustments that becomes in the core of the current stage of the capitalist accumulation regimen.