Sumario: | This professional dissertation aims at understanding and questioning the present supremacy of the densification paradigm in urban planning. After presenting the theoretical bases of urban spatial structures, the paper studies the urban growth dynamics in Colombian cities.
It focuses on a special category of cities where the densification paradigm proves to be especially inefficient: intermediary rapidly growing cities in developing countries.
On the light of these findings, the paper analyses an alternative experience of urban development in Colombia by presenting the Urban Expansion Initiative conducted in Valledupar. Finally, the paper discusses the relationship between densification, urban poverty and urban sustainability.
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