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"This book brings development theory and practice into dialogue with the religious tradition, in order to construct a new, trans-disciplinary vision of development, with integral ecology at its heart. It focuses on the Catholic social tradition and its conception of integral human development on the one hand, and on the works of economist and philosopher Amartya Sen which underpin the human development approach on the other. The book discusses how these two perspectives can mutually enrich other around three areas: their views on the concept and meaning of development and progress; their understanding of what it is to be human, that is, their anthropological vision; and their analysis of transformational pathways for addressing social and environmental degradation. The book examines how both human development and the Catholic social tradition can function as complementary analytical lenses and mobilizing frames for embarking on the journey of structural and personal transformation to bring all life systems, human and non-human, back into balance. This book is written for researchers and students in development studies, theology, and religious studies, as well as professional audiences in development organisations"--

"The question of the meaning of progress and development is back on the political agenda. How to frame this discontent and search for new alternatives when either socialism or liberalism no longer provides a satisfactory framework? This book introduces in an accessible way the capability approach, first articulated by Amartya Sen in the early 1980s. Written for an international audience, but rooted in the Latin American reality - a region with a history of movements for social justice - the book argues that the capability approach provides to date, the most encompassing and promising ethical framework with which to construct action for improving people's wellbeing and reducing injustices in the world. Comprehensive, practical and nuanced in its treatment of the capability approach, this highly original volume gives students, researchers and professionals in the field of development an innovative framing of the capability approach as a 'language' for action and provides specific examples of how it has made a difference"--

"The question of the meaning of progress and development is back on the political agenda. How to frame this discontent and search for new alternatives when either socialism or liberalism no longer provides a satisfactory framework? This book introduces in an accessible way the capability approach, first articulated by Amartya Sen in the early 1980s. Written for an international audience, but rooted in the Latin American reality - a region with a history of movements for social justice - the book argues that the capability approach provides to date, the most encompassing and promising ethical framework with which to construct action for improving people's wellbeing and reducing injustices in the world. Comprehensive, practical and nuanced in its treatment of the capability approach, this highly original volume gives students, researchers and professionals in the field of development an innovative framing of the capability approach as a 'language' for action and provides specific examples of how it has made a difference"--

The aim of the paper is to analyse how theological resources can help inform concrete actions of marginalized groups to transform unjust structures, understood as structures which prevent people from enjoying opportunities to live flourishing human lives. Using Amartya Sen's Idea of Justice as conceptual frame, and the narrative of actions of the Confederation of Popular Economy Workers, the paper explores how theological resources can help mediate the social mobilization of marginalized groups to transform unjust structures and create the conditions for better lives. It focuses on two resources: religious social teachings on work, the economy and solidarity on the one hand, and ecclesiology and liturgy on the other. It discusses the role these resources have played, and are playing, in the formation of agents of social transformation, and in facilitating the voices of the excluded to be heard and listened to in political processes. It concludes by examining some challenges of theological mediation in the transformation of unjust structures.

Eighty percent of the Latin American population is now urban, but the urbanization process has been accompanied by greater inequality and social segregation. To address urban exclusion, the idea of 'the right to the city' is increasingly being endorsed by international organizations and national governments as conceptual framework for urban policy towards more inclusive cities. The paper argues that the right to the city is a limited framework to revert the fragmentation trend of the Latin American city, and it examines how the capability approach could offer more suitable conceptual tools to that effect. The paper proposes the idea of 'just cities for life' as the outcome of a combination of the right to the city and a capability-view of justice. It explores some avenues for translating the idea into concrete actions to create cities in which all residents can equally have opportunities to live well in the urban space they share.

Introducción: América Latina está cada vez más urbanizada. En el año 2000, más del 80% de la población latinoamericana vivía en áreas urbanas, el doble de la proporción de 1950. La cantidad de ciudades latinoamericanas con más de un millón de habitantes dio un salto de 8 en 1950 a 56 en 2010. Cuatro ciudades –México, San Pablo, Río y Buenos Aires– tienen más de diez millones de habitantes (Suárez, 2014). En la actualidad, América Latina es el continente más urbanizado (Cohen, 2014). Este proceso de urbanización, sin embargo, no se desarrolló de modo integrado. La historia de la ciudad latinoamericana es la de una ciudad "fracturada" (Koonings y Kruijt, 2007) con una profunda división entre "las villas y el resto" (Rodgers et al., 2011: 560). La proporción de personas que viven en asentamientos informales con un acceso precario a los servicios públicos es muy alta. De acuerdo con la información de ONU-Hábitat, en 2010 el 24% de la población urbana de América Latina vivía en viviendas precarias y el 40% vivía en su casa de modo ilegal (Suárez, 2014).