Cities and the Hope of a New World Order. The United Towns Organization Between Mediterranean Europe and Latin America (1984-92)

Abstract

This article explores the history of transnational city networks, which today form a vast ecosystem connecting cities around the world, giving them a voice in international arenas (United Cities and Local Governments [UCLG], ICLEI, C40, etc.). Their massive proliferation, observed since the 1990s, builds on a long history of structuring a European and transatlantic municipal web, which began in the 19th century. However, research has paid little attention to the evolution of these municipal movements in the late 20th century, particularly their expansion towards the “Global South”. This article focuses on the United Towns Organization (which later gave birth to UCLG in 2004), an association historically rooted in Mediterranean Europe, and analyzes its expansion in Latin America during the 1980s. The author shows that this invention of new urban policy circuits was primarily based on geopolitical dynamics. It was driven by French and Catalan left-wing forces, which, at a time when authoritarian regimes were losing ground, sought to link local governance reforms to a will to spread democracy worldwide.