Governance through storytelling and possible futures: motorcycle-cab service planning in Mexico City

Abstract

In the periphery of Mexico City, the informal motorcycle cab service (MCS) has provided people with local mobility for the last twenty years, involving thousands of jobs. Through the last five years or so, a formalization of the MCS has been in process. This article discusses a governance-based participatory workshop supporting such a process of formalization. In the workshop, stakeholders from different social groups have shared their MCS experience, visions and aspirations. The starting point for the analysis is the storytelling coming from the workshops, ranging from problem definitions to common agreements. Through an interpretative approach, utopian possible futures and storytelling elements are elaborated. These created an outcome that influenced the formalization process of the MCS, promoting electric bike-cabs (‘ciclo-taxis’) that favor a formal and green guild of transport cooperatives.

Keywords:

• Governance
• participatory method
• utopian possible futures
• storytelling
• transport planning

Funding

This article is based on my PhD research, which the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) fully funded.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.