Latin Patterns of grow

"Although the land had no municipal services, the initial squatters (and then the growing numbers who followed their example) were hopeful that if enough people settled here, the Matamoros government would take notice and reach an agreement with the previous owners to provide a way for settlers to purchase their land. The next step would be for the city to fully incorporate the colonia, thus providing paved roads, piped water, sewage disposal, and electricity, among other services. This is a typical pattern of urban growth on the border, and in Latin America more generally, and it has severely taxed the governments called upon to provide municipal services, leaving many colonia populares struggling without these services for many years (Fay 2005; Morse and Hardoy 1992; Ward 1999)."

Cited in:

Ambivalent Landscapes: Environmental Justice
in the US–Mexico Borderlands
Melissa A. Johnson & Emily D. Niemeyer
Published online: 30 May 2008