Socioeconomic Fragmentation and Urban Segregation in Montevideo

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the interplay between social inequalities and the process of urban segregation
in Montevideo, this being an a-typical city in the Latin American context, where, notwithstanding the “Welfare
State” set up in Uruguay in the early twentieth century, over the last twenty years social inequality has
made itself acutely felt due to restructuring and economic recession.. However, with the new Government
in 2005, new policies and particularly those aimed at tackling urban poverty were put into force and these
are indeed changing the social and urban landscape. In this sense Montevideo is here held to be an interesting
“case study”, for the bringing together of comparative analysis upon the process of polarization and the
discussion on urban dualization. First, the authors analyze the major trends and assumptions as to inequality
and urban segregation. Secondly, they illustrate the characteristics of different areas and social classes,
using here statistical data processing of household surveys and quantitative indicators to do so, raising
likewise several factors to the issue of urban heterogeneity in terms of how this is understood locally along
with a qualitative analysis. The paper is rounded out with a series of conclussions drawn from the foregoing.