LAS DINÁMICAS CONTEMPORÁNEAS DEL PROCESO DE URBANIZACIÓN EN EL PARAGUAY

Abstract

The urbanisation process that Paraguay has been experiencing for several decades has occurred with a certain chronological lag with respect to what has happened in the other Latin American countries. In fact, in this country, the number of “city” inhabitants did not exceed the “rural areas” one until 1992, while this change had occurred in the middle of the last century in Brazil or Chile, and even earlier in Argentina or Uruguay. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Paraguay is a country of “late but accelerated urbanization”, as are Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama and El Salvador. Thus, the “late but accelerated urbanization” of Paraguay makes it a particularly interesting field of observation: the current generalization of the urban phenomenon causes a true transformation of society that is accompanied by the manifestation of new economic, social and spatial logics. However, and paradoxically, the contemporary conditions of Paraguayan urbanisation have not yet been analysed in sufficient depth: consequently, it seems that the new problems and challenges that arise are little known. This article proposes a review of the recent trajectories and modes of urbanization in the country, identifying the main factors involved in this process, among which we must consider sociocultural changes, the outsourcing of economic activities, the diversification and complexity of the social structure, the contrasting emergence of a middle class, and the pursuit of a specialised model of economic development based on the export of agricultural raw materials.