Latin American Development Forum The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities, (Paperback)

In Latin America, the only region in the developing world with a majority population in urban areas, criteria to prioritize policy actions for improving the quality of life in the region's rapidly growing cities is greatly needed. Although housing infrastructure has improved, a variety of problems affect many cities including insecurity, severe socio-economic segregation, a lack of public spaces and poor transport infrastructure. Looking at eight cities in six Latin American countries, the authors use a methodology that combines the hedonic pricing method and the life-satisfaction approach to identify and value housing characteristics and neighborhood amenities and services. The valuations, in turn, are used to produce quality of life indices to compare neighborhoods and assess the potential impact of improved public amenities and services on housing prices and quality of life for different socioeconomic groups. Policy implications range from criteria to prioritize public expenditures and identify expenditures to be paid through property taxes, to ways to target expenditures for tackling the segregation problems endemic to Latin American cities.