Metodología para el diagnóstico y la ordenación de los corredores de crecimiento de ciudades intermedias ecuatorianas: Cuenca como caso de estudio

Latin America has experienced a dramatic urbanization processes in the second half of the twentieth century (Avila, 2009; Velázquez, 2007; Gilbert, 1997), transforming in an accelerated manner the territories near their cities. From the academy, an array of multiple reflections has arisen in this particular regard,and developed into new concepts to refer to these new territorialities, such as the term urban-rural fringe. Considering it as a territorial category, denominated as the growth corridors - study object of this investigation- and appear as one of its subcategories. Under these reflections, it exposed a methodology for the diagnosis and planning of growth corridors of intermediate Ecuadorian cities. However, this proposal does not intend to be conclusive or definitive and provide a developing perfectible framework that seeks to be consistent with the ambivalent space in the study. In conclusion, it tries to contribute to the theoretical debate on the planning of these territories in Ecuador. The following research is addressed in six chapters: the first three are more descriptive and explain the theoretical and methodological structure, problems, and case studies. The next three chapters explicate the proposal, its implementation, and a final reflection that leaves open the debate about growth corridors, and their role in the diverse forms of occupation and transformation of the territories.