Introduction to Special Theme Practice Forum: Latin American Spatial Planning beyond Clichés

There is no spatial planning in Latin America, or so the cliché goes. As it turns out, Latin America is vast and variegated and planning capacities vary tremendously across the region. Latin American cities face a variety of challenges and may seem disorganised and chaotic, but their problem is not lack of planning, but the tremendous challenges of rapid urbanization in weak institutional contexts, where planning happens ‘post-facto’ and many citizens are currently excluded from the benefits of planned urbanization. This state of affairs is made more acute by the seemingly unending struggle between redistribution policies and neoliberalism.