Urbano

New generations of architects and urban planners facing the contemporary challenges of the Latin American city

Urbano invites the academic and professional community to send contributions for its Special Edition of November next year, 2026, dedicated to reflecting on the role, competencies, and responsibilities of the new generations of architects and urban planners (or related professions) facing the contemporary challenges of cities in Latin America and the world.

Context and problematic

Recent urban transformations—marked by climate change, socio—spatial inequality, the housing crisis, informal expansion, and the precariousness of urban life—require rethinking the ways of practicing, teaching, and projecting architecture and urbanism. Latin American cities, characterized by their cultural diversity and historical territorial inequality, have become laboratories of innovation, resistance, and social experimentation. However, they still face the challenge of integrating these processes into the institutional, educational, and professional structures that shape the preparation of contemporary architects and urban planners.

Several authors have agreed in underscoring the limitations of traditional urban planning and design models to face the contemporary dynamics of fragmentation, informality, and vulnerability typical of the metropolises of the Global South (Stiphany & Ely-Ledesma 2025; De Mattos 2010; Capel 2002). Along these lines, Dovey (2025) interprets urban informality as a structural condition of contemporary urbanity, while Chakrabarti (2023) notes that the conceptual frameworks inherited from the Global North are insufficient to understand local forms of agency and self-organization. Similarly, Eakin et al. (2025) point out that urban resilience strategies often overlook or marginalize community or traditional practices in the territories, thereby reproducing the inequalities they aim to overcome.

These conditions require professionals with a systemic perspective, capable of acting in complex environments, promoting citizen participation, and linking technical knowledge with spatial justice and environmental sustainability. Along these lines, Harvey (2012) and Lefebvre (1967) recall that “the right to the city” is not only a political framework, but also a practice of design, management, and co-production of urban spaces.

Today, the key question is not only what city we want to build, but what kind of professionals we need to train to make it possible. Architects and urban planners face the challenge of combining critical thinking and territorial action, integrating digital tools with local knowledge, and developing new ethical, social, and design competencies to address emerging issues: climate adaptation, sustainable mobility, neighborhood regeneration, urban ecosystem management, and the collective production of public space.

Subject areas and types of articles sought

This special edition seeks to gather research, essays, and experiences that address the transformation of the professional and academic profile of the architect-urban planner in the current context, including (but not limited to):

1. New pedagogical approaches in the teaching of urbanism and architecture.
2. Innovative experiences of outreach among the university, the territory, and the community.
3. Project practices in the face of informality, inequality, and the environmental crisis.
4. Digital tools, interdisciplinarity, and new methods of urban analysis.
5. Critical perspectives on the social role of the architect and professional ethics.
6. Comparative studies on urban education, practices, and policies in Latin America and other regions.

This Special Edition aims to create a space for critical and constructive reflection on how to educate and practice an urbanism committed to equity, sustainability, and the social transformation of the territory. Research articles and case studies that contribute to rethinking training and professional practice within the framework of contemporary city challenges are accepted.

Deadline for submission: May 30, 2026
Publication: November 2026

Bibliographic references

Capel, H. (2002). La Morfologia de Las Ciudades. Ediciones del Serbal.

Chakrabarti, D. (2023). Urban Theory of/from the Global South: A Systematic Review of Issues, Challenges, and Pathways of Decolonization. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. Frontiers Media S.A. 10.3389/frsc.2023.1163534

Dovey, K. (2025). INFORMALITY AS THE UR-FORM OF URBANITY: Keeping the Ur- in Urban Studies. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 49(1), 39–51. 10.1111/1468-2427.13284

Eakin, H., Enqvist, J., Hamann, M., Methner, N., Nthambi Sibanda, M., Sullivan, J. L., van Wyk, E., y Ziervogel, G. (2025). Negotiating Informality and Urban Resilience: Implications for Equity. Ecology and Society, 30(2). 10.5751/ES-16059-300220.

Harvey, D. (2012). Ciudades Rebeldes. Del Derecho de La Ciudad a La Revolución Urbana. Ediciones Akal. 10.1007/s11118-009-9129-5.

Lefebvre, H. (1967). Le Droit à La Ville. L’Homme et La Société, 6, 29–35. 10.3917/pal.110.0039.

Mattos, C. A. De. (2010). Globalización y Metamorfosis Metropolitana En América Latina. De La Ciudad a Lo Urbano Generalizado. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, 47, 81–104.

Stiphany, K., y  Ely-Ledesma, E. (2025). Insurgent Urbanisms in the Americas. 10.4324/9781003430391.