New Migration Fluxes and Social Segregation in Central Mexico City: the Contested Urban Future

Abstract (English)

Contemporary cities represent contested spaces in terms of cultural and power representations as much as disputed places for developing the everyday life. In the last twenty years, in the central areas of Mexico City, the landscapes considered degraded or with recycling potential, were promoted as susceptible places for urban regeneration projects, triggering processes of real estate speculation and social displacements. The new residents of these areas, which belong to groups of higher incomes than the previous ones, are both Mexicans and immigrants from different countries, especially from Asia and North America. Sometimes, people for central America who came fleeing from violence and poverty of their regions also arrive to these same areas.

In this paper, from a perspective that articulates the axis of urban inequalities and violence, we will present three spaces in Mexico City affected by processes of real estate violence (displacement, dispossession, social fragmentation) as a consequence of the revaluation of urban areas such as the neighborhoods like Granada (originally working-class), Santa María La Ribera (originally middle-class), and Juárez (originally an immigrant neighborhood). To do so, we will contrast the narratives of old and new inhabitants and the city project from the last local governments. Underlying these narratives lies the idea of the city of the future (which they want to build or avoid), contrasting the hegemonic visions (neoliberal city project) with alternative visions (centered in the right to the city).