Citation :

Juan Carlos Briones Macias, Agustin Gamarra Sampén, Maria Isabel Romero Jara, "Between Development and Loss: Residential Expansion and Transformation of Rural Habitat in Vía a la Costa and Posorja, Urban Edges of Guayaquil," International Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 359-369, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488352/IJCE-V13I9P122

Abstract

The urban growth of Guayaquil has reconfigured the boundaries between the city and the countryside, giving rise to new urban edges were residential expansion advances on previously rural territories. Vía a la Costa and Posorja sectors have become contrasting but complementary scenarios of the same phenomenon: the progressive loss of rural habitat in the face of the dynamics of accelerated urbanization. Urban growth in Latin America has historically followed a model of dispersed and disjointed expansion, driven by real estate interests and weak territorial control. This pattern of development has generated a recurring phenomenon: the blurred border between urban and rural, known as the "urban edge". In these spaces, the coexistence of agricultural, residential and industrial uses is manifested, reconfiguring the landscape and altering socio-territorial dynamics. To generate a comparative analysis of urban edges based on their environmental, social and real estate impact caused by residential expansion in the Vía a la Costa and Posorja sectors of Guayaquil, to identify the transformations of the rural habitat and the challenges they pose for the sustainable planning of the territory. As conclusion Urban expansion in Vía a la Costa and Posorja reflects growing metropolitan influence, infrastructure development, and increasing peri-urban transformation.

Keywords

Urban edge, Urban growth, Local development, Rural habitat.

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