Major changes in the global economic and industrial structure in recent decades have modified the spatial arrangement of cities. Urban researchers in the developed world have therefore explored the extent to which these transformations have taken place, but also the way the organization of urban space has influenced society and family life (Marcuse & van Kempen 2000; Maurin 2004). In recent years, the subject has begun to be addressed in Latin America by disciplines such as sociology, geography and anthropology. This analysis will be set in the Latin American context, where the issues of concern have subtle distinctions from those in more developed countries.

A common characteristic of cities is that the urban landscape does not change as swiftly as social relations, economic practices or political arrangements. It does not look radically different from the way it did in the past, since continuity is maintained through legal frameworks, customs and cultural traditions, as well as the rigidity of the built environment, which cannot be altered as easily (Soja 1989; Marcuse & van Kempen 2000). This is confirmed through the case of Mexico City, presented below. It should be added that in choosing a place of residence, families also choose their neighbours, since the social environment is believed to influence the success or failure of the lives of young people, their future and social status. In other words, the immediate social surroundings do not represent a secondary contingency of existence but are an essential condition for the development of all (Maurin 2004). Hence the importance of studying the social division of space, segregation and its effects on the population.

In Latin America, the more affluent groups usually choose to live in areas that are more central. Conversely, poorer families are condemned to live in remote areas that are unsuitable for settlement. These families are concentrated in urban peripheries, especially in areas where they are extremely important within the urban social structure, a common phenomenon in cities in the region.

Suburbanization in these countries has mainly involved low-income groups, partly through the formation and expansion of informal settlements (a phenomenon discussed in the previous chapter), which have served to reproduce the labour force at extremely low cost.