The post-War suburban sprawl in North America was made
possible in part by technological changes that supported mass
production of the private automobile, and mass communications
(phone, TV and radio). But the technological changes would not
have been possible without the extremely high rate of capital
accumulation in North America and around the globe, and its
concentration in the North.
It made possible a national
interstate highway system and mortgage insurance programs that
subsidized suburbanization to the tune of billions of dollars.
This suburbanization was not possible in Latin America
because of the net outflow of capital from the region.
As a
result, the economic surplus available to the masses did not
permit anything approaching the mass consumption and suburban
sprawl of the North .
Urban elites, a distinct minority, secured
their own "American dream" by establishing private enclaves for
their owner-occupied dwellings and autos. Sometimes these
enclaves are sprawled, like the "Country Club" neighborhood in
Caracas, and sometimes they are very dense, like the scores of
luxury condominiums that pierce the downtown skyline.
Always they
are limited and territorially confined.
This made possible the growth in mass
consumption associated with "the American dream" the single
family home and private auto.
In sum, suburban sprawl during the post-War period was a
form of "decentralization" in the North, but it was only possible
because of the concentration of economic and political power in
the Northern metropolis.
The different urban patterns in North
and South are thus a result of global inequalities.
