As middle-income countries that experienced urbanization earlier，Latin American countries had suffered from “big city diseases” such as high urban primacy and excessive population aggregation in the 1960s and 1970s. Urban development begins to transition towards decentralization as the urbanization of those countries gradually shifted from high-speed to low-speed in the post-industrialization stages. To achieve sustainable development goals，Latin American countries have made adjustments at three levels，namely the socio-economic level，the spatial level and the regulatory level. At the socio-economic level，they adjusted their industrial structures，implemented inclusive policies，protected the interests of disadvantaged groups，and worked hard to improve informal employment. At the spatial level，they implemented decentralized strategy，encouraged the development of small and medium-sized cities，and promoted the transfer of population to the suburbs. At the regulatory level，they gradually developed and improved the urban and regional planning systems，and coordinated policies on housing security and land. From the perspective of the urbanization path of predecessor countries，decentralized development is an objective trend，an inevitable stage that large cities must go through on urbanization path，and also a remarkable feature on high-level urbanization. In the process of urbanization，Latin American governments actively advanced reforms on industrial and population decentralization as well as on regional development balancing，which has exerted an influence on the urban policies in recent decades. Decentralization has eased the problem of “big city diseases” to some extent. At the same time，however，it has also caused social stratification and inequality. Overall，it plays an important role in promoting national and regional coordinated development.