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40 March 2019 | AutoData SMART CITIES » LATIN AMERICA By Leandro Alves, from Mexico City, Mexico A STILL DISTANT FUTURE The talks for the development of smart cities in Latin America were productive. But there is still an abyss from speech to action. L atin America will face one of the big- gest exoduses of the planet in the next 30 years. It is estimated that, in 2050, 89% of its population will be living in cities. The challenges to that transition are big because almost 700million people are expected to live in urban centers. There are 100 million today, according to a UN Habi- tat study. This is the trouble’s sizewhich the region will face and, not surprisingly, was the main theme of the Smart Cities Forum held by Latan Mobility, an organization that brings together the main mobility and transportation professionals in the region, in Mexico City, in the middle of February. The event took a ride on the Formula E Mexican gran prix, the fifth season with electric cars organized by the FIA, Federa- tion Internationale de l’Automobile. Nothing is more convenient than gather in the same space the electric race cars, which have become a showroom of that automotive engine transition, with the specialists in mobility from Latin America. After all, there is little doubt that electrification is a road with no way back to the urban centers,

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