Includes bibliographical references and index.

Buildings, terrain, and form -- Mythical terrain and the building of Mexico's UNAM / Ren�e Davids -- Universidad de Panama: designing on the outside edge of the periphery / Ren�e Davids -- Topography and ideology: the Museum of Modern Art and the Helicoide de la Roca de Tarpeya / Iv�an Gonz�ales, Jos�e Rosas, and Ren�e Davids -- S�ao Paulo's topography and the utopian democracy / Angelo Bucci and Ren�e Davids -- Le Corbusier, Rio de Janeiro, topography, and housing: a cross-cultural exchange / Ren�e Davids -- Cities and water -- Mexico City as reinvented geography, its looming environmental crisis, and recent proposals for regenerative landscapes / Edward R. Burian -- Mountains, wetlands, and public space in Bogot�a / Ren�e Davids with Juli�an Alejandro Osorio -- Topography, hydrology, and the irrigated landscapes of Mendoza, Argentina / Jorge Ricardo Ponte, translated and adapted by Ren�e Davids -- Hills, infrastructure, and social order -- Santiago de Chile and the changing meaning of its hills / Rodrigo Perez de Arce, translated and adapted by Ren�e Davids -- Valpara�iso: a future in the balance / Ren�e Davids -- Topography and civic order in latin america / Ren�e Davids -- Demolishing urban hills: establishing new identities / Ren�e Davids.

This collection considers topography, ecology, and landscape alongside social, political, economic, and cultural meanings that have accompanied the built environment in Latin America dating to before Spanish contact.