Planning Latin American Capital Cities

The capital cities of Latin America were, and are, unique. Largely shaped by European culture, architecture and planning, the cities reflected key features of Paris and other European cities. European experts shared in their buildings and planning, while many Latin American architects and planners trained in Europe. France was the main source of inspiration until the United States began to play a part in the 1930s. Planning Latin American Capitals is the first comprehensive work in English to describe the building of these capital cities in the post-colonial period. In his introductory chapters Arturo Almandoz provides a historical survey of Latin American urban development and reviews the period most influenced by European ideas -from mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, after which American influence led to a very different, technically-based approach to planning. There follows a series of case studies devoted to individual cities, each extensively illustrated and written by authories on the city concerned. The cities are Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Santiago de Chile; Mexico City, Lima; Havana, Caracas, San Jose. A final chapter by the editor unites the conclusions of these case studies. Arturo Almandoz, Ramon Gutierrez, Margareth da Silva Pereira, Fernando Perez Oyarzun, Jose Rosas Vera, Carol McMichael Reese, Gabriel Ramon, Roberto Segre, Lorenzo Gonzalez Casas, Florencia Quesada.