Manuel Bayón Jiménez
Urban Geography
From Amazonian urbanization, political ecology, Indigenous territorialities, and activist cartography.
Website for browsing by topic and downloading publications.
Ongoing Academic Projects
Wealth & Space (El Colegio de México)
A study of the spatial patterns of production among large economic groups, with a particular focus on tourism groups in the Yucatán Peninsula.
Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador
Research aimed at defending the territory against extractive and urban development projects, in collaboration with indigenous, environmental, and human rights organizations.
Observatorio Urbanización Amazónica
Research Network for Research and Public Policy Proposals for the Ecuadorian Amazon, organized by FLACSO in collaboration with Amazonian universities.
Manuel Bayón Jiménez
Researcher - Professor
About
Over the past 15 years, I have been researching the widespread urbanization driven by extractive infrastructure megaprojects throughout Latin America.
I earned my master’s degree in Urban Studies at FLACSO-Ecuador, a country where I have been involved with social movements such as the Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador and Yasunidos.
I completed my Ph.D. between 2020 and 2025 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, at the Institute for Regional Studies, focusing on indigenous disputes over urbanization in the Amazon.
I am currently in the final phase of my postdoctoral fellowship at El Colegio de México, where I have served as executive coordinator for the Mexican component of the international Wealth & Space project.
Press Materials
Report on the Manta-Manaus route, from the book “The Jungle of the White Elephants” (Plan V).
Report on the Millennium Cities, based on an academic article and a book (El País).
News story on the debate over Decree 751 in Ecuador’s National Assembly (TeleAmazonas).
Report on the findings of Contested Cities Ecuador (Expreso).
Interview on environmental challenges for 2020 (Mongabay).
Interview on the geography of mobility during the pandemic (El Comercio).
Featured Books
The Jungle of the White Elephants
Megaprojects and Extractivism in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Critical Geography to Stop the Dispossession of Territories
Theories, Experiences, and Case Studies from Ecuador.
The Exploitation of Yasuní
Amid the Global Oil Crisis
Recent Featured Publications
2026
The Extractive Industries and Society
Science Direct
Money, meaning, and territory: family business groups and agro-extractive systems in Latin America
Maria Dorothea Wolf, David Camblor, Manuel Bayón Jiménez, Michael Lukas & Michael Janoschka
2025
Urban Geography
Taylor & Francis
Rethinking rent gaps from the Amazon: urban contestation and extractive frontiers in Ecuador
Manuel Bayón Jiménez & Michael Janoschka
2024
Ciudad y Territorio Estudios Territoriales
Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana
Hacia una aproximación inductiva a la gentrificación desde las periferias: entre vivienda social, renovación urbana y enclaves extractivos de Ecuador
Manuel Bayón Jiménez, Gustavo Durán Saavedra y Alejandra Bonilla Mena