Bolivia: Urban System and Economic Dynamics

In Bolivia the urban and economic evolution, especially in terms of spatial configuration, has been influenced by the Extractable Cycles. Those were the origin of the emergence of “centers of production ” that have changed depending on the natural resources and on the period of Bolivian history. Close to the Andean Region, the productive axis has been transferred during the last half century. The last decades have testified the emergence and consolidation of a bipolar urban structure. This paper focuses on the two principal Bolivian agglomerations that polarise the economic and urban dynamics. They have different economic specialisations. On the one hand, La Paz, the political capital, concentrates administrative services and on the other hand Santa Cruz is the economic capital, playing the role of the “economic lung ” of this Less Developed Country. Firstly, the goal is to analyse and describe the roles and the impact of departments of La Paz and Santa Cruz in the Bolivian economic development. Secondly, this paper explains the emergence and consolidation of Sant