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Regional Development: Some Comments on the Discourse in Latin America

A recent issue of Society and Space was concerned with regional planning in Latin America. The papers focused either on sweepingly macrolevel analysis or on local community-based development strategies. This paper is an outline of some of the problems with this discourse as it was presented in the journal, and it is suggested that both groups have neglected the theoretical, empirical, and practical importance of ‘middle level’ analyses. It is at this level where the larger processes and local dynamics unfold, and where the real constraints and contingencies occur. Given the current complexity of Latin American development processes, comforting notions about transnational corporations or romantic views of community development will not advance our analytics or address the practical challenges.