The city-region of Mexico City: social inequality and a vacuum in development planning

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to show that, despite the growing interest in the formation of city-regions across the world, this urban phenomenon is not sufficiently recognised in the planning instruments for territorial development. Neither has enough attention been paid to two of the main problems associated with these new formations: socio-territorial inequality and the lack of effective government. In the case of the Mexico City city-region, disturbing negative aspects of socio-territorial inequality can be identi-fied, including the precarious labour market and high rates of poverty. Although Mexico’s metropolitan governments have been inadequate for many years, their ineffectiveness in the case of Mexico City is exceptional. This article concludes that metropolitan planning has been an illusion and discusses how the development of integrated planning at the macro-regional level in the future is very improbable, unless major institutional changes are implemented to take advantage of their competitive advantages. 

• KEY WORDS

city-regions, Mexico City, urban deconcentration, social inequality, development planning limits