Beyond the Megacity connects and reconnects the global debate on the contemporary urban condition to the Latin American tradition of seeing, considering, and theorizing urbanization from the margins. It develops the approach of "peripheral urbanization" as a way to integrate the theoretical agendas belonging to global suburbanisms, neo-Marxist accounts of planetary urbanization, and postcolonial urban studies, and to move urban theory closer to the complexity and diversity of urbanization in the Global South. From an interdisciplinary perspective, Beyond the Megacity investigates the natures, causes, implications, and politics of current urbanization processes in Latin America. The book draws on case studies from various countries across the region, covering theoretical and disciplinary approaches from the fields of geography, anthropology, sociology, urban studies, agrarian studies, and urban and regional planning, and is written by academics, journalists, practitioners, and scholar-activists. Beyond the Megacity unites these unique perspectives by shifting attention to the places, processes, practices, and bodies of knowledge that have often been neglected in the past.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations Tables Introduction: Old and New Dimensions of Peripheral Urbanization in Latin America Michael Lukas, Universidad de Chile and Nadine Reis, El Colegio de México Part I: Framing Peripheral Urbanization in Latin America 1. Peripheral Urbanization: Autoconstruction, Transversal Logics, and Politics in Cities of the Global South Teresa Caldeira, University of California, Berkeley, USA 2. Urban Community and Resistance Raul Zibechi, Independent Writer and Journalist, Uruguay 3. Planetary Urbanization and the Commodity Super-Cycle in Latin America Martín Arboleda, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile Part II: Metropolitan Peripheries under Financialization and Urban Extractivism 4. Large-scale Housing in Peripheral Urbanization: Persistence and Change in Urban Space Production in the Mexico City Megaregion Clara Salazar, El Colegio de México, Nadine Reis, El Colegio de México, and Ann Varley, University College London, UK 5. Periurban Satellite Towns in Santiago: The Urbanization by Holdings and the Paradoxical Happiness of Middle-Class Periurban Dwellers César Cáceres, Viña del Mar, Chile 6. Financialization and Social Reproduction in the Buenos Aires Urban Periphery Liz Mason-Deeze, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA Part III: Community, Commoning, and Political Agency on the Urban Margins 7. The Self-Built-City as Palimpsest: (Re)Constructing Urban Memory in Lima’s Hybrid Peripheries Kathrin Golda-Pongratz, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany 8. Occupy the Periphery: Housing Occupations and the Production of Urban Commons in Belo Horizonte João Tonucci and Rodrigo Castriota, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil 9. Hybrid Livelihoods: Resistant Adaption in Peri-Urban Bolivia Hannah-Hunt Moeller, University of Michigan, USA 10. Blurring the Urban-Rural Divide: Urban Peripheries as Sites of Food Sovereignty Construction in Caracas Christina Schiavoni, International Institute for Social Studies, The Netherlands and Ana Felicien, Universidad de los Andes, Venezuela Part IV: Extended Urbanization between New Rurality and Operational Landscapes 11. Planetary Urbanization, Agro-Exports, and Informality: Making Sense of the Expanding Peripheries and Emerging Cities in Coastal Ecuador Gustavo Duran, Jonathan Menoscal, and Manuel Bayón, FLACSO Ecuador 12. Worlding the Atacama Desert: Peripheral Urbanization and Transnational Resource Extraction Urbanism in Antofagasta, Chile Michael Lukas, Universidad de Chile 13. Planetary Urbanization and Maquiladoras in Motul, Yucatán: Unveiling Abstract Space in the Ex-City Claudia Fonseca Alfaro, Malmö University, Sweden 14. Rural Livelihoods, Urbanization, and Incomplete Population Transitions in Brazil Alisson F. Barbieri and Ricardo Ojima, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, UFRN, Brazil 15. The Urbanization of Mexico’s Rural World: A Socio-Cultural Anthropology Approach Gabriela Torres-Mazuera, Centro de Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, CIESAS, Mexico Conclusion: Peripheral Urbanization: Current Trends, Methodological Advances, and the Decolonization of Urban Theory Nadine Reis, El Colegio de México and Michael Lukas, Universidad de Chile Author Biographies