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How is urban land use affected by economic class in Mexico City?



Daniel Segura Mijares

Candidate Number: 002861-047



Subject: Geography HL

Teacher: Philip J. Randy



La Escuela de Lancaster A.C.

Registration Number: 002861



How is urban land use affected by economic class in Mexico City?

Introduction

There are many residential areas in Mexico Citydistributed within the city limits. Some of these areas have similar characteristics in terms of the residential distribution but are located in different places in relationship to distance from the CBD. Since Mexico City is so big, we will take into consideration three different areas and analyze how the land use is directly affected by the income and economic capacity of its residents. The aim of thisfield work is to study and conclude what economic factors affect the land use in Coyoacan, San Pedro Martir and Tlalpan. In my prediction I will find out that ass we get further away from the CBD in Mexico City and move towards the outskirts, we will find less organized and less developed settlements. Since this task is related to the Urban Environments section of the syllabus, we will take intoconsideration various data recorded directly in these areas as a consequence of the fieldwork.

To see how the residential areas of the city are affected by economy, I will also analyze various land use models and find out whether or not the city fits into a specific land use model. In the case it does, I will compare Mexico City with other settlements which fit into the same model to see if thereason for the land use of the city in question is a consequence of the economy or if its affected by other factors.

Method and Location

The field work investigation was carried out in three different locations on four different dates. On date one we analyzed land use aspects in Coyoacan. On date two we did the same on Tlalpan, date three San Pedro Martir and date four Coyoacan again. Thefield work included a questionnaire to find out the happiness index in the area, a data collection to see how vehicles and pedestrians move around the area and to find out the social impact of the area in question and a land use sketch of various sites in the area to find out the general distribution of the land use. This allowed us to collect the data for three different aspects in the same areas andwe did the same thing in all of the three locations.









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Fig. 1 shows the distribution of the two delegations studied in relation with the CBD.



















Analysis by Area.

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Fig.2 shows the CBD in Mexico City























Tlalpan

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Fig. 3 shows Tlalpan

In This site we find thatalthough the street is one of the busiest streets in the area, its land use consists of mostly housing and only one public building. This data was collected in one of the blocks nearest to the center of the area and the public building represents a school. This data evidence is a clear example of the area being mostly residential. All of the buildings are one or two stories high which indicatesthey are houses and not tall buildings. Since there are only seven buildings in one block, we can conclude that the residential zone consists mainly of large houses and therefore expensive residences.

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Fig. 4

























Coyoacan

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Fig. 5 shows Coyoacan

This is also one of the busiest streets but this time in Coyoacan. Opposed to tlalpanwe can see a much more varied land use in this location. We have eleven buildings in one single block, which in this case indicates a much more expensive land in contrast with coyoacan. This site is nearer to the main streets which connect the south with the CBD of the city. About 45% of the buildings are housing, 20% specialist shops and the rest is divided between Professional Services, Public...