Gentrification of Mexico City
The combination of numerous megaprojects, inefficient city-planning strategies, and remote work after the COVID-19 pandemic have led to dysfunctions in circulation, community allocation and equal access to resources.
In consequence, middle and low-income communities have been directly or indirectly alienated and challenged to adapt to a complex and evolving urban environment, and the culture erasure that comes with the process of gentrification.
Developed as a series of artificial islands on a lake, the village was connected by a system of channels, surrounding the Chapultepec aqueduct that served as the main resource of fresh water and therefore as the foundation for the evolution of the settlement.
The Ordinances of the Indies by Philip II, laid the ground for the founding of towns in the New World, following a set of strict rules of spatial arrangements and hierarchies, inspired by the Roman classical planning ideas.
This affects how the city is physically developing around a core, cultivating density of population, as well as a massive urban expansion that reflects its sudden economic and cultural global presence.
The division of the city is derived from a strong socially and economically segregated population connected by its interdependence, that manifests into spatial arrangements where luxury areas coexist alongside slums.
Its development around a core called “El Zocalo” derives from the historic, cultural and political relevance of a central plaza, as well as its contemporary concentration of economic power, currently housing 80% of all national firms.
[1] These urban developments have been catered to elite communities mainly because this group economically supports the country (38% of the total national income is produced by the top 10%) and because the government, predominantly led by PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), has maintained a profit-oriented policy perspective.
Thus, these developments have not only led to an increase of population, traffic and pollution due to inefficient urban planning, but have also pushed great amounts of low-income families to the edges of the city and have challenged the safety of the 11.5 million people that economically depend on the underground sector.
[12] The reality currently faced by the city is that of a historic rapid urban growth that has been unable to be adequately controlled and planned for, because of a corrupted and economically driven government, as well as a complex society that is strongly segregated.
Neoliberal policies adopted in the 1980s, favored private investments to redevelop the city's infrastructure, in order to attract new users, residents and tourists, as well as new global capital motivating multiple drastic urban renovations.
Megaprojects like the Mitikah Progressive City in Benito Juarez have affected the culture of original communities and displaced thousands of people as the property taxes increased by 500% and cost of services tripled.
Other traditional “barrios” that have been affected by the rehabilitation of once obsolete infrastructures are Colonia Condesa and Roma, which have had a great increment of population, shift of demographics, and increase of public activities that contribute to noise, traffic and violence.
After a group of elite communities, in the 50s and 60s, moved to the edges of the city were cheap industrial land could be transformed to luxurious residentials, the center became populated by lower-income families and filled with high levels of informal and formal commerce, causing the rapid deterioration of the zone in terms of public infrastructure and safety.
With the neoliberal policies, the biggest Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim through his financial group Carso, radically transformed the morphology of the city by investing over 5 million dollars in renovating around 100 historic baroque buildings, as well as constructing new vertical structures to be occupied as housing units, offices, plazas and museums.
Yet again, El Zocalo has become a zone only feasible to live and work for a small percentage of the population, especially with the creation of Norm 26 that allowed the elevation of prices in the center to increase competition for urban land.
[19] Peri-urban spaces are administratively challenging as jurisdictions don't formally fall within a local, state or federal agency's direct responsibility and thus studying and maintaining infrastructure becomes a complex task.
The effects of gentrification in Mexico City come from the transformation and expansion of urban zones, as well as the adoption of capitalist policies, an elevated consumerism and a strong class domination by domestic elites.
Common political attitudes encompassed the idea that unfavored populations and rural immigrants were not being affected by irregular settlements, as these respond better to their needs, capabilities and identity than affordable housing projects, and that the self-build activity produced closer communities and larger amounts of economic involvement.
[28] A mass production of affordable single family units with poor service infrastructure and public transport have led to low qualities of life with excessive daily commuting, causing high levels of air pollution, social segregation and housing abandonment.
The close communication among localities and government should foster inclusive zones, with affordable and creative arrangements of residences, commerce and service options to ensure an urban spirit that combines the modernity of global exposure and the uniqueness of traditional exercises.
[38] Some urbanists propose to implement a vision that is in sync with the cultural and social conditions that are specific to the city, taking advantage of structures of religion and spirituality as instruments to redefine the way people look and think about space, in favor of a more sustainable environment.
[40] Sebastian Zenker argues that city branding can attract talented people creating vibrant and open minded spaces with a wide range of opportunities that speak to each region.
[42] Public transport systems in the city include light rails, subways, buses and taxis that are widely available but often in poor qualities, low reliability and excessive demand.
Compact developments with an emphasized verticality are another approach to creating active spaces with efficient energy use, less driving distances, reduced emergency response time, mixture of homes, services and jobs.
[51] Human centered design can further help the reframing of techniques to approach challenges, innovating always around people, and allocating limited resources in a way that maximizes the individual and collective experience of all groups led by multiplicity of views, needs and demands.
Urban projects then need to be elastic and open to constant transformations, innovative ways to create inclusive areas and represent the local features that empower social relations and spatial experience.
Beautifying and modernizing the city should not come at the expense of losing its national and local “touch” to fit global conventions, but push against social demand and constrictions in a way that sustainable and efficient projects are motivated and a homogeneous society can coexist.
