From Ejido to Metropolis, Another Path

The factors behind the failure of land use planning in Mexico City, as reflected in the concentration of 65% of its population in irregular settlements, are explored in this book. It documents the structural role that the lack of secure property rights of the "ejidos," the surrounding peasant communities, played in determining such an outcome within the context of the national economic policy of import-substitution industrialization which favored Mexico City's growth. An original policy proposal, whose significance is broader than the specific case of Mexico City, presents an alternative based on privatization of the "ejidos" in the urban periphery and the establishment of land development trusteeships for low-income settlements within the framework of an urban land reserve planning system.