Community-based organization and participatory planning in south-east Mexico City

Abstract

This paper describes the experiences of community-based organizations in settlements and municipalities in south-east Mexico City in participatory planning and in the development of local projects and new employment opportunities. In order to do so, popular groups joined forces with students and professionals. They sought to demonstrate new models of urban and peri-urban development that met their inhabitants’ needs while avoiding the chaotic informal processes by which most low-income settlements develop. They also sought to ensure good natural resource management and the protection of their rich and diverse cultural heritage. Last but not least, they searched for new approaches to community-based organizational replication in harmony with the environment. This paper describes the many projects implemented in San Miguel Teotongo, Cananea and Sierra Nevada which included new schools, health centres and community museums, settlement lay-outs with planned and installed infrastructure, markets, the protection of green areas and historic sites and the development of new agricultural products and eco-tourism. It also included community-based mapping of municipalities to allow better management of natural resources. The paper also describes how these initiatives have developed over the last 20 years and their role within Mexico’s complex political changes, including their relations with different political parties.