Latin American cities have undergone unique processes related to the historical conditions that shaped their territories, as well as to colonial legacies, modernization projects, international dependency, and neoliberal economic restructuring, among other factors. These processes have generated structural and persistent inequality and inequity. However, this has also led to the emergence of resistance movements and social struggles aimed at both securing access to and continued residence in cities for diverse marginalized sectors, and reversing class, ethnic, gender, environmental, and territorial inequalities and injustices within urban areas. This long-standing and ever-changing dual condition is legible, on the one hand, in the urban structure resulting from the urbanization processes of Latin American and Caribbean cities and, on the other hand, in the urban processes in which diverse agents with asymmetrical and interdependent relationships and competing horizons for the city (state, market, social and political organizations, activism, inhabitants, etc.) are involved in the deployment of logics and dynamics of social and urban (in)equalities and (in)justices.

Within this general framework, the Working Group "Latin American Urban Processes: (In)justices and (In)equalities" proposes to explore contemporary Latin American transformations as a lens through which to analyze the dynamics of social and urban (in)justices and (in)equalities. As a vast body of literature has pointed out in recent years (Prévot-Schapira, 2001; Janoschka, 2002; Portes, Roberts and Grimson, 2005; Caldeira, 2007; Ziccardi, 2008, 2014; Duhau and Giglia, 2008; De Mattos, 2010; Di Virgilio and Perelman, 2014), urbanization processes in the world's most urbanized and unequal continent have changed drastically in recent decades. Instead of directly expressing migratory and demographic processes as occurred during much of the 20th century, the predominant patterns of urban spatialization and growth must be understood as an articulated result of novel (and tendentially exclusionary) forms of: new market and financial logics, new ways of producing urban land, new orientations in public policies, and changes in lifestyles and household compositions, among others.

While in terms of urban form these processes are legible in the trends toward extensive, diffuse, and fragmented growth, in social terms these dynamics have translated into increasing inequality. Fragmentation, dualization, segmentation, and even urbicide (Carrión and Cepeda, 2023, in press) are concepts that seek to account for these logics and that, each in its own way, collectively reflect on the unique character assumed in this period by the dialectic between spatial forms and social processes. Likewise, simultaneously with these socio-territorial processes, the emergence of different forms and scales of social organization is evident (from neighborhood organizations to political coalitions at the national and international levels, including various social movements) that, starting from urban demands and disputes, challenge injustices and inequalities and aspire to a horizon of social equality and recognition of differences and rights.

In this sense, the processes that arise in urban territories, according to Castells (2014), are the result of class struggle and political intervention, and from a space-society perspective, they are framed within: the articulation of the economic system (production, consumption, and interaction); institutional organization; and the urban symbolic dimension. The evolution and transformation of the social and economic model has unleashed a play of interests and power specific to each era. Therefore, contemporary processes are the result of a temporal succession and sedimentation of diverse processes, among which the deepening of a capitalist logic stands out. This framework does not exclude the "other side" of this reality, where social action has generated the pursuit of urban reconquest through demands and struggle. In this regard, since the beginning of the 21st century, a body of research on urban and political processes in Latin American cities has highlighted the constitution—to use Holston's (2009) expression—of "insurgent citizens." While some authors have downplayed their novelty, highlighting their roots in previous struggles (Merklen, 2005; Grimson, 2009), there is no doubt that we are dealing with movements whose struggle does not begin in the city center but in the periphery, centered around rights to a dignified life (housing, property, water, security, transportation, etc.) through which they not only build a vast new city but also a new kind of citizenship (Agier, 2015). Likewise, this geographical and political shift—from the periphery to the center— This phenomenon is not limited to urban movements related to housing and habitat, but is also evident in youth and cultural practices such as hip hop, graffiti, and social gatherings, among others (Magnani, 2005; Caldeira, 2010, 2012; Weller, 2011; Pardue and Oliveira, 2018; Gorelik and Peixoto, 2016; Freire-Medeiros and O'Donnell, 2018). Added to this is the growing centrality of feminist and LGBTQ+ collectives who, in line with feminist geography (Kern, 2020), challenge the patriarchal and gendered spatio-temporal ordering of cities (Falú, 2009) and demand the dismantling of barriers to equal access to and residence in urban spaces, as well as the coexistence of diverse gender and sexual orientations.

Therefore, the processes resulting from the tension between injustices and inequalities in cities of the region, with their varying scales and characteristics, constitute the focus and challenge of this Working Group, which aims to continue the work of previous Working Groups on urban issues: a) Habitat and Social Inclusion Working Group, coordinated by Teolinda Bolívar and Jaime Erazo; b) Right to the City Working Group, coordinated by Fernando Carrión and María Cristina Cravino; and c) Urban Inequalities Working Group, coordinated by Manuel Dammert. The purpose of this Working Group is to foster ongoing debate and the generation of new ideas around urban studies in Latin America.

Urban processes in Latin America have been extensively debated and analyzed. The tension between the public and private spheres, between the formal and informal, between established powers and emerging power struggles, and between conflict and urban control, according to Patricia Ramírez (2009), constitutes a manifestation of transformations in the urban order. Analyzing urban processes means observing the constantly changing territory, its heterogeneous and unequal inhabitants, and, above all, their daily practices, the tensions that permeate them, and the collective urban production resulting from the conflictive encounter of unequal agents, interests, real estate developments, and public and private institutions of varying scales. New demographic trends, urbanization and location patterns, living styles, the relationship between work and residence, the outsourcing of the economy, and the demands and actions of diverse social groups are all factors that influence urban structure, as do the changing and often contradictory public policies that seek to intervene in and regulate social and urban dynamics (Delgadillo, 2014; Rodríguez and Di Virgilio, 2016; Ziccardi, 2020; Jirón et al., 2021). Amid the insatiable quest to order cities, the resulting urban processes are part of a negotiation process between the forces, interests, and power of actors in the market, the state, and society. This process unfolds within multiple, tense urban realities, among which displacement and expulsion, on the one hand, and resistance and self-management, on the other, stand out as poles of a more heterogeneous continuum.

However, the relationship between (in)equalities and (in)justices does not constitute a zero-sum equation. Research on inequalities in the region (Reygadas, 2008, 2020; Saraví, 2015; Segura, 2020) shows that inequalities do not always and everywhere drive movements of opposition and resistance; instead, there are inequalities that are naturalized and, therefore, unquestioned, as well as inequalities considered just and legitimate, among other possible combinations. The existence of a disjunction between objective conditions and subjective tolerance of certain inequalities (Wacquant, 2007) leads us to the historical research of E.P. Thompson (1995) on the "moral economy of the crowd," where he argued that the subsistence riots of 18th-century England were not a "spasmodic" response. to hunger (not every hunger leads to riots), but rather were based on a "legitimizing notion," on certain culturally shared ideas about what is just and unjust. This "outdated" and non-mechanical relationship between (in)equalities and (in)justices in contemporary urban processes in the region is precisely one of the central analytical concerns of the Working Group.

The continuation of a Working Group focused on urban processes resulting from the intersection between urbanization and (in)equality and (in)justices in Latin America seeks to advance in at least three intertwined issues that deserve to be highlighted:

1-The processes of co-construction between urban space and social inequalities. As an “objectified social space” (Bourdieu, 2002), simultaneously a product, condition, and stage for social practices (Lefebvre, 1973), urban space constitutes a fundamental dimension of the dynamics of production, reproduction, and contestation of urban inequalities. It is particularly important to consider the socio-spatial dynamics of inequalities and injustices that relate both to prevailing urbanization trends and their effects on various dimensions of social life (labor, education, environment, gender) and to situated urban processes ranging from the expulsion and displacement of populations due to dynamics such as gentrification, public policies on “informal” residential spaces, and rising housing costs, among others, to the various forms of resistance to these dynamics and the organizations (neighborhood, community, gender, etc.) that contest access to, retention in, and enjoyment of the city. One might ask: What are the most prominent urban resistances and struggles to claim social justice in contemporary urban processes in the region?

2- The continuation and deepening of previous debates constitutes a fundamental step in addressing the challenges of knowing, understanding, and comparing urban dynamics at a regional scale. Indeed, between the 50s and 70s, a Latin American institutional network was consolidated, allowing for a regional understanding of the social and urban dynamics of what was then called the "Latin American city" (Gorelik, 2005, 2022; Segura, 2021). Beyond the criticisms that concepts such as "marginality," "informality," "primacy," and "dependent urbanization," among others, received, they played a fundamental and unavoidable role in reflecting on urban Latin America and its unique characteristics, its persistent problems, and its future challenges. Dictatorships first, neoliberalism later, and the predominance of an agenda focused on the ideographic approach to specific cities hindered regional dialogue and the comparison of urban processes across the continent. CLACSO provides an unparalleled platform for deepening the dialogue on urbanism at the regional level, aiming to develop a diagnosis and prognosis regarding urban processes in the production and reproduction of inequalities and injustices, as well as the mechanisms for reversing them. Based on this, it is worth asking: how can the actions or inaction of urban policies and city governance structure fairer and more equitable urban processes? What types of actions and systems govern the logic of the current urban process?

3- Finally, based on dialogue, comparison, and synthesis of the knowledge produced regarding urban (in)equalities and (in)justices in Latin American and Caribbean cities, a series of challenges arise for urban policies, planning, and management in Latin America. How can we involve diverse and unequal social actors in discussing and reaching a consensus on an equitable and just future for the continent's cities and their inhabitants? How can we reconcile urban growth, distribution, and sustainability? How can we advance the recognition of situated practices and knowledge that seek to reverse social and urban inequalities and injustices from below, thus avoiding the "expert" reductionism that excludes these knowledges, practices, and actors from the discussion about the city and urban life? How can we learn from past and ongoing urban processes to design just and equitable cities?

It is planned to advance these issues through a combination of various instances, tools, and supports, which are detailed in the following section and include: 1) the development of a platform that will operate as a database or map of available research in the region on urban processes (researchers, institutions, projects, productions, etc.); 2) a range of virtual tools (meetings, workshops, spaces for debate and encounter, among others) that aim to multiply dialogues not only among academics and researchers, but also involving civil, social, and political organizations, as well as representatives of public bodies and institutions dedicated to various urban dimensions; and 3) annual in-person seminars, with venues and themes already confirmed: Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 2023, Bogotá (Colombia) in 2024, and Ansunción (Paraguay) in 2025.