Mobility regulations and urban projects in Mexico City: An accessibility focus on territorial inequalities

Abstract

Global Cities frequently concentrate their public budgets and private investments in their central, wealthy zones. This article outlines the inequitable distribution of the public budgets, private investments and mixed-use zoning among the municipalities of Mexico City with regard to the provision of accessibility. Global Cities’ perspectives lack acknowledgement of elements of mobilities theory. This paper will discuss how mobility regulations and urban projects involve public space interventions and the shaping of citizens’ (mobile) daily life activities and conditions. The phenomenon is illustrated through two cases: 1) The city’s latest mobility regulations (2014 and 2015) related to its inhabitants’ daily long-distance commuting and air pollution mitigation, and 2) the urban project called Cultural Corridor ‘Chapultepec/Zona Rosa’ (CCC) related to citizens’ urban planning interventions, which was cancelled in 2015. In order to achieve equality between territories, governments should consider citizens’ participation within urban projects and mobility regulations. Governments should also take account of interrelations between urban planning and mobility perspectives.