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Concentrated deconcentration and migration: a look from large metropolitan areas of Latin America

José Marcos Pinto Da Cunha, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Ana María Chávez, UNAM
Jorge Barquero, Centro Centroamericano de Poblacion
Daniel Macadar, Universidad de la República
Wendy Molina, Programa de Estudios de la Sociedad y la Cultura. Universidad de Costa Rica
Guillermo Olivera, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Jorge Rodriguez, CELADE-Population Division of ECLAC
Jaime Sobrino, Centro de Estudios Demográficos, Urbanos y Ambientales, El Colegio de México

This article studies the hypothesis of concentrated deconcentration, which argues that the loss of demographic and economic gravitation of large cities is due to their short-distance emigration, which could expand the hinterland and the functional relationships of larger cities, reinforcing their importance into the national urban system. To evaluate this hypothesis, the concept of concentrated deconcentration is operationalized by using two dimensions: i) share of the city in the total national population, and in the urban national population, and ii) internal migration flows between the large city and its near and far areas. The results suggest that deconcentration does not occur with the expected force, since in some cases the demographic share loss of the big city (Santiago) is not even verified, while in others it is questionable (Mexico City and Montevideo), but in others there are signs of concentrated deconcentration (Sao Paolo and San José).

Keywords: Population geography, Urbanization and urban populations, Internal migration

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 38. New Methods and Measures in Urbanization