Fifteen cities share the honors for having the best policies for improving the quality of life of its citizens. Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro lead the list of the best cities in which to live in Latin America.
| By Juliana Salazar |
Latin Trade ranked Latin American cities in an effort to show which are the leaders in implementing policies that improve livability, and that provide solutions to the key issues that will define the future of the region’s economies.
The analysis of the information compiled reveals that Latin American cities are making huge strides in overcoming more and more longstanding barriers. These include mobility and transportation, information technologies, environment, attracting investment, migration of human capital, social inclusion, economic growth, security, city administration, cost of living, economic potential, and urban planning, to name a few.
Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro are the leaders among the 15 cities showcased in Latin Trade’s ranking. Their success is the result of long-term policies that go beyond governments’ electoral terms.
THE BEST CITIES IN LATIN AMERICA
Santiago de Chile
São Paulo
Buenos Aires
Montevideo
Rio de Janeiro
Bogota
Lima
Monterrey
Rosario
Mexico City
Cali
Guadalajara
Curitiba
Medellin
Cordoba
Below, Latin Trade highlights also the work of the mayors of each of these five star cities, presenting also the enormous challenges they face. With fast demographic growth, mobility and recovery of public spaces are among the most important issues to be dealt with.
The ranking published in the next pages compiles information from Latin Trade, and incorporates various measurements made during the past year to compare cities around the world by The Economist, Mercer, and the IESE Business School’s Cities in Motion Index, among others.
Santiago de Chile
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“We know our efforts have to be directed not only toward a specific group of players
in the public space, but toward everyone who’s there, whether they be motorists,
cyclists, pedestrians, trans-Santiago chauffeurs, taxi drivers, or truck drivers.”
-Carolina Toha, Mayor of Santiago de Chile
Santiago de Chile is the best city to live in Latin America. Its low inflation, economic stability, low levels of corruption and its impeccable public management and urban planning put it in first place.
It is the safest city in the region in terms of digital and personal security, boasts excellent sanitary conditions, and the quality of its infrastructure is also remarkable. Mayor Carolina Toha, continues to strengthen this front with initiatives like the Neighborhood Security Plan, in which the community states its needs in workshops and specific solutions are agreed to, such as placing security cameras in critical locations.
Santiago is also the best city to live in from the standpoint of the ease of starting a business, quality of education, cultural activities and recreational areas. It still faces the challenge of achieving higher social inclusion, but it’s making progress on this front, too.
The metro system is worthy of note, as are initiatives such as bicycle renting and electric car sharing, and it’s working on issues like mobility and pollution, which are the main problems affecting Santiago residents.
São Paulo
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“Widening the sidewalks will give pedestrians and cyclists areas to occupy
and use, and that will enable us to have a better city.”
-Fernando Haddad, Mayor of São Paulo
Huge investments in the recovery of public spaces and improved transportation with trains, buses, bicycle paths and the metro system, along with developments in information technology and its international projection have made São Paulo the main emerging city in the region, and have combined to earn it a second place in the Latin Trade ranking of the best cities of Latin America.
Traffic bottlenecks (the average speed is 8.7 miles per hour) is one of the major challenges confronting the city. Improving the infrastructure and discouraging the use of private cars form part of the strategies to overcome it. This isn’t easy in a city of 22 million people where urban planning hasn’t kept pace with population growth rates.
São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad has a powerful urban development agenda, which he calls the “Arch of the Future.” It focuses on building exclusive infrastructure for buses to make trips shorter and to make more efficient use of the available urban space. He is also working on housing complexes along the routes of the metro line, buses and trains so that people spend less time on their way to work.
Technology is another pillar of development. São Paulo has projected 120 public spaces with free Wi-Fi and two new bus fleets already have broadband on board.
Buenos Aires
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“We understood that our role as public servants is to offer concrete solutions to everyday problems.”
-Mauricio Macri, Mayor of Buenos Aires
Its modern transportation infrastructure, good access to health and education services, the great cultural activities offered and its low crime rate have made Buenos Aires one of the best Latin America cities to live in.
Mauricio Macri, the city’s head of government, converted bicycle paths into a focal point of his administration and in seven years, he has built more than 80 miles of bicycle paths. His government also implemented the Metrobus and a system of lanes exclusively for buses that cuts travel time around Buenos Aires, where the growing number of cars is becoming a problem.
To solve the growing security problems of a large city like the Argentine capital, a police force was started from scratch with new values, modern equipment and a focus on being close to citizens.
As for the cultural offerings, Macri emphasized to Latin Trade that his team wants to make Buenos Aires the cultural capital of Latin America, with projects like the Emerging Festival for young talents in music and arts, the Biennial of Young Art and Rock BA. Those were added to the intense cultural offerings the city traditionally has including tango festivals, film and theater exhibitions, among others.
On other subjects, the mayor said that social inclusion is the big challenge that remains unfinished, and he thinks the Youth Olympic Games of 2018 will create new opportunities to confront this issue. For example, after the games, the Olympic Village will be transformed into social housing.
Montevideo
©iStockPhoto.com/carterdayne
“I’m convinced that transparency in public management is an indispensable
condition for continuing to build the Montevideo we deserve.”
-Ana Olivera, Mayor of Montevideo
Political stability, transparency in public management, good governance and coherent urban planning are the great pillars of development in Montevideo. In fact, it should be noted that Montevideo, and Uruguay in general, have the lowest incidence of corruption in Latin America.
With fewer than two million inhabitants, it is one of the most compact cities in the region and one of the best organized, thanks to its intelligent use of land.
From the standpoint of transportation, health, housing, economy, education and its cultural agenda, Montevideo has the profile of one of Latin America’s best cities to call home. The Uruguayan capital is also a leader in initiatives for social inclusion, with projects from current Mayor Olivera such as psychosocial assistance for women for prevention and care in cases of domestic violence, and the Barrio Accessible program to promote citizen participation to solve neighborhood needs.
To improve mobility, a system of public bicycles was implemented, making Montevideo one of the cities with the highest use of bicycles in Latin America.
Montevideo also stands out as a technology center, and has several university programs aimed at converting Uruguay into the biggest exporter of software per capita in Latin America.
Olivera has also implemented new initiatives such as online payment of taxes and fees to move digital government forward.
Rio de Janeiro
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“We can’t ever say that we are a perfect city, but we are improving the well-being
of our residents and the experience of the visitors each and every day.”
-Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro
The 2014 World Football Cup, together with the upcoming Olympic Games in 2016, have made it possible for the city to take advantage of huge capital investments to defend its position as one of the best emerging cities in the world.
Previously, in 2009, Rio was facing a decline in many areas, from a business perspective to the lack of improvement in infrastructure. When the state government started implementing the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs), the violence decreased and a safer environment was created leading to investments and new businesses to the city, said Paes to Latin Trade.
Nowadays, Rio is the third most technological city in the region. As a result of the creation of the Integrated Operations Center, the city has implemented the monitoring in real time of weather, crime and vehicular traffic information. In addition, it forecasts natural events such as mudslides, to warn communities in advance and thus reduce risks.
The recently inaugurated Via Expressa, a 4.2 miles tunnel that crosses practically the entire port zone, will be the great legacy left by the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro: the revitalization of the zone with the opening of pedestrian areas, residential and office buildings, parks, museums and other infrastructure.
The new projects under the tutelage of Mayor Paes also include a new metro line between the south and west zones of the city, three systems of exclusive bus lanes for a faster and less expensive traveling, and an electric train to reduce the number of buses in the center of Rio de Janeiro. The mayor said that, although there is still a lot of work to do, the city already has 93 miles of express lanes for buses, 56 of which were built during his term.
Paes said to Latin Trade that during his administration, basic health care improved from 3.5 percent coverage in 2009 to 70 percent this year. With these policies, plus the improvements in public transportation, the Rio mayor said one of the city’s enduring problems is being effectively addressed: to reduce social inequality.
Most technological
São Paulo
Mexico City
Rio de Janeiro
Rosario
Guadalajara
Best public transportation
São Paulo
Curitiba
Rio de Janeiro
Mexico City
Monterrey
Best urban planning
Montevideo
Buenos Aires
Santiago
Rosario
Guadalajara
Best in human capital
Curitiba
Monterrey
Rosario
Guadalajara
Cali
Highest quality of life
Santiago
Buenos Aires
Montevideo
Rio de Janeiro
Lima
Safest cities
Santiago
Buenos Aires
Lima
Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo
Best international projection
São Paulo
Buenos Aires
Cordoba
Mexico City
Monterrey
Best emerging cities
São Paulo
Bogota
Rio de Janeiro
Juliana Salazar reported from Bogota.