Unlike in other developing areas, three-quarters of Latin Americans live in cities. This shift started early and reflects a cultural bias toward urban living with roots in the colonial past. Cities...

Unlike in other developing areas, three-quarters of Latin Americans live in cities. This shift started early and reflects a cultural bias toward urban living with roots in the colonial past. Cities are large and combine aspects of the formal industrial economy along with the informal one. Grinding poverty in rural areas drives people to live in cities or to emigrate in search of employment abroad.

1. Explain where this area might be with regard to the Latin American urban model (Figure 4.20).

2. Why has Latin America become a region of emigration? Is this pattern likely to continue?