The Americas | Barrios and baristas

Latin American cities are becoming far nicer for poorer inhabitants

The world’s most urbanised region holds lessons for developing countries

2GCNTWY Iztapalapa, Mexico. 09th Aug, 2021. The cabins of the new cableway Cablebus 2 travel above the district of San Miguel Teotongo. The cableway will be 10.6 kilometers long and transport thousands of users daily. Credit: Jair Cabrera Torres/dpa/Alamy Live News
Lifting up slumsImage: Alamy
|Buenos Aires and Mexico City

It is hard not to bump into a hipster in La Condesa or Roma Norte, two trendy districts in Mexico City. The areas are abuzz with cafés, shops bursting with vintage clothes, and parks pullulating with “digital nomads” who upped sticks during the pandemic and moved there from the United States. Inevitably, locals grumble about gentrification, rising rents and yanquis speaking English. Yet these two districts exemplify a broader trend: Latin American cities are much nicer than they used to be.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Barrios and baristas”

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