https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7675-6419
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ABSTRACT
Market-oriented urban development has reconfigured social life in Mexican metropolises in recent decades. The Atlixcáyotl-Lomas de Angelópolis corridor in Puebla illustrates how neoliberal policies stimulate the commodification of urban space, as the current physical, economic, and social arrangements in this corridor result from a state-led planning strategy that has mainly benefited private actors. The extended urban corridor—approximately eight miles long—in the southwest area of the metropolis was enabled by an ambitious regional plan in the 1990s that created a new crucial centrality known as Angelópolis developed over a land reserve of approximately 1,000 ha of expropriated agrarian social land (ejidos). The paper explores the role and impact of urban policies supposedly created for “public interest” to encourage the provision of affordable housing, green areas, public infrastructure, and social facilities, which, in contrast, have fostered elite residential horizontal and private developments, financial capital investments, and private facilities.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The ejido in Mexico is a form of land tenure known as agrarian social property; the other is communal tenure. Ejidos are agrarian nuclei with autonomy in land management that blend private and communal assets. They are divided into four areas: human settlement, growth reserve, cultivated lands, and communal lands (Secretary of Agrarian Reform, Citation1992). Members holding agrarian rights certificates, parcel certificates, or common rights certificates are known as ejidatarios.
2. In the form of Stock Market Companies (SAB) or Investment Promotion Companies (SAPI). This mention is intended to trace the capital development of the area.
3. The Boulevard or Vía Atlixcáyotl has six lanes per side, and the speed limit on this road is 80 km/h, while in the outer ring Periférico Ecológico, the speed limit is 90 km/h.
4. The average home value in Lomas de Angelópolis is approximately 215,000 USD, ranging between 110,000 and 1 million USD. La Visa Country Club boasts the highest exclusivity and house prices, with an average price of 1 million USD and reaching up to 1.8 million USD (Propiedades.com, Citation2023).
5. In the Cascatta II and IIB stages, 85% of abandoned housing is found (INEGI, Citation2021), mainly in the typology of apartments in vertical buildings.
6. Currently, we can find various housing typologies in the entire area: (a) Precarious housing -originating irregularly- with low-quality materials, (b) row single-family housing of “popular” and social interest, (c) semi-detached social interest single-family housing with neighborhood commerce. In closed residential complexes with a homogeneous urban image and materials of good quality and permanence, (d) duplex and terrace social interest housing, (e) single-family medium housing (1 to 3 levels), (f) residential and residential plus single-family housing of up to 3 levels, (g) mix of single-family housing of 1 and 2 levels and high-interest condominium apartments of 4 or more levels, (h) vertical housing in a residential condominium of more than 20 levels.
7. FIBRAs are based on the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) model, designed to generate returns, and distribute profits from leasing real estate, offering greater liquidity than traditional investment methods. They differ in the level of indebtedness and the type of administration (internal/external).
8. SAPI, Sociedades Anónimas Promotoras de Inversión Capital (Capital Investment Promoting Companies), SAB, Sociedades Anónimas Bursátiles (Public Limited Company), FIBRA, Fideicomisos de Inversión en Bienes Raíces (Real Estate Investment Trusts).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Emma R. Morales
Emma R. Morales is a professor and coordinator of the Doctorate in Habitat and Sustainability at ITESO, Jesuit University of Guadalajara. She holds a bachelor’s in Architecture from UDLAP, a master’s degree in City Studies and Management from IBERO Puebla, and a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on urban fragmentation (physical and social) and the connections between public policy, social practices, and urban exclusion. Emma is a Level 1 member of the National System of Researchers (SNII) from the National Council of Humanities, Sciences, and Technologies (CONAHCYT), a member of the American Planning Association (APA), an associate member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Numerary Member of the National Academy of Architecture—Chapter Puebla, and a counselor at the National Council of Territorial Planning and Urban Development (SEDATU).
Lorena Cabrera Montiel
Lorena Cabrera Montiel is a professor at Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, teaching in the Architecture, the master’s degree in Habitat and Socio-territorial Equity and the Doctorate in Habitat and Sustainability programs. She holds a bachelor’s in Architecture and a master’s in Urban Planning from the Puebla State University (BUAP) and a PhD in Geography from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her main research areas include housing and urban space production processes, as well as integrated disaster risk management focusing on socio-territorial dynamics that generate and exacerbate conditions of vulnerability. Lorena is a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII) from the National Council of Humanities, Sciences, and Technologies (CONAHCYT) and the Citizen Council for Urban Development and Housing of the Municipality of Puebla. She has participated in and coordinated several research projects with national and international teams.