LAS Conference 2009

The Urban Divide in Latin America: Challenges and Strategies for Social Inclusion University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies & College of Design, Construction and Planning 58th Annual Conference January 28 - 30, 2009 J. Wayne Reitz Union University of Florida Gainesville, Florida, USA Latin America has the largest percentage of urban population of any world region in addition to the most unequal distribution of income. This inequality is most apparent in cities, where the richest and the poorest live in close proximity, and social inequality becomes tangible and flagrantly evident in spatial terms. How can urbanists affect policies that foster social inclusion? This multidisciplinary conference aims to gather scholars and professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life in urban Latin America. This forum will provide participants an opportunity to share their research and experiences, and to engage in dialogue to generate ideas and identify solutions to advance social inclusion in Latin American cities. The conference is co-hosted by the UF Center for Latin American Studies and the UF College of Design, Construction and Planning. Joseli Macedo, UF Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning will chair the conference; Martha Kohen, UF Professor of Architecture, will co-chair. The conference focuses on a wide range of urban research reflecting the rich variety of work undertaken in the field. The panels’ topics include:

• Disaster Prevention & Urban Planning
• Favela Urbanization
• Gated Communities & Segregation
• Gender, Poverty & Inequality
• Governance & Political Representation
• Housing & Informal Settlements
• Infrastructure
• Labor & Informal Sector
• Land Use Policy & Legislation
• Planning & Technology
• Planning, Urban Design & Public Space
• Public Participation
• Spatial & Social Equity
• Sustainability & the Environment
• Urban Crime & Violence
• Urban Poverty & Government
• Urban-Rural Linkages

The conference will include keynote plenary sessions and paper presentations organized in panels. Invited keynote presenters include:

• Alan Gilbert, University College London, Department of Geography
• Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil
• Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, Department of Sociology

For a complete agenda please go to http://conferences.dce.ufl.edu/LAS/default.aspx?page=581 Those interested in having their papers considered for publication in a conference volume or journal issue should submit their completed papers by January 8, 2009. For more information about the UF Center for Latin American Studies, visit: www.latam.ufl.edu For more information about the UF College of Design, Construction and Planning, visit: www.dcp.ufl.edu Contact Patricia Sampaio, LAS Program Coordinator, with questions about the conference at [email protected]