INTERNATIONAL MUNICIPAL EXCHANGE AS A CATALYST FOR SOUTH NORTH TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION TRANSFER: A Case Study From The Americas

ABSTRACT As a relatively recent phenomenon, technology and information transfers from developing to developed countries have to date attracted little scholarly attention among students of development. This paper offers a partial remedy to this deficiency, through an examination of the south-north transfer process as it occurs within the context of developed-developing world municipal cooperation and exchange. Using a case study approach, the paper examines one very successful exchange programme operating between the municipalities of Toronto, Canada and Sio Paulo, Brazil, focusing on four specific examples of “reverse” technology and information flow. The paper concludes with some observations on the scope and potential of these types of transfers, and their implications for current understandings of the development process.