Spatial Analisis Proposals for minicities in Central America: beyond visible space

Abstract

Mini-cities in Central America are mixed-use projects that combine residential, commercial and entertainment spaces. Based on two case studies (Avenida Escazú in Costa Rica and Ciudad Cayalá, in Guatemala), this article offers proposals for a multidisciplinary theoretical-methodological approach that could be used in future research on mini-cities. The hybridization of urban forms and functions contributes to a spatial complexity which is suggested to demand an analysis that goes beyond the classic dualistic concept of spatiality. The discussion opens from five conceptual proposals to carry out the exercise of opening the creative geographical mind to deal with new urban issues and challenges, according to the recommendations of Soja (2000). Addressing a selection of authors and methods, not always from the same research line, this article suggests tools to analyze the spatial dynamics and the convergence of diverse spaces such as the real, the perceived, the conceived, the imagined, the lived or the Third Space from Soja (1996), among other proposals. A brief Foucauldian heterotopological analysis is included, without neglecting Lefebvre’s “triple dialectic” (1974) and other artistic and literary contributions. Finally, it is discussed that the current urbanization process requires new discourses to conceptualize, in theory and in practice, recent urban realities. The article does not intend to close the discussion with a restrictive conclusion or with a concluded spatial analysis, but rather aims to provoke consideration and the formulation of more questions and unknowns to highlight the difficulty and need to update and expand the tools for the analysis of the new urban dynamics.