Urban Indigenous territoriality and the politics of climate urbanism in Latin America

Abstract

Indigenous peoples in Latin America are increasingly urban, yet state imaginaries and scholarly frameworks continue to locate indigeneity in rural spaces. This rural/urban binary is sustained by a model of neoliberal multiculturalism that celebrates cultural difference while denying Indigenous territorial agency in the city. This article challenges these assumptions by arguing that Latin American cities are emerging as key arenas in which Indigenous territoriality is being reconfigured, governed, and defended. Drawing on urban socio-political ecology, it conceptualises Indigenous urbanisation as a reconfiguration of ancestral territorial life rather than its erosion. Through an analysis of Ma-puche organisations in Santiago de Chile, among other cases, the article examines how Indigenous collectives enact territorial claims through environmental stewardship, spiritual practice, and political mobilisation. It situates these practices within uneven urban geographies of climate change, showing how Indigenous ontologies of care and reciprocity underpin resilient socio-ecological governance. The exploration proposes Indigenous climate urbanism as a praxis that contests colonial spatial orders while advancing alternative urban futures grounded in ecological collective authority. Recognising Indigenous urban territoriality as legitimate, structural, and transformative is essential for building climate-just and decolonial cities in Latin America.