Urban development governance: a proposed framework to investigate municipal infrastructure inequalities in chaotic Mexican cities

Abstract

Chaotic cities are characterized for having inadequate infrastructure and its urban layout lacks of long-term perspective. These cities present stark infrastructure inequalities between rich and poor residential areas. This research attempts to answer this question by using a novel dataset to create an infrastructure inequality measurement. A theoretical framework is introduced to make sense to the difference in infrastructure in cities from the global south. A governance approach is developed to explain why people, economic and housing influxes conditional to the quality of the local governance could inhibit or promote urban infrastructure inequality. The evidence in Mexico seems to support the notion that local governance matters in governing the influxes of people, money and houses, although a number of caveats are identified and requires greater attention in order to confirm these initial results.

Las ciudades caóticas se caracterizan por tener una infraestructura inadecuada y su diseño urbano carece de perspectiva a largo plazo. Esta investigación intenta explicar el caos urbano utilizando un nuevo conjunto de datos para crear una medición de desigualdad de infraestructura. Se introduce un marco treórico para dar sentido a la diferencia en infraestructura en las ciudades del sur global. Se desarrolla un enfoque de gobernanza para explicar por qué las personas, los conflujos económicos y de vivienda, condicionados a la calidad de la gobernanza local afectan la desigualdad de la infraestructura urbana. La evidencia en México parece respaldar la noción de que la gobernanza es importante para gobernar las influencias de personas, dinero y casas, aunque se identifican varias advertencias y requieren mayor atención para confirmar estos resultados iniciales.