Observing the evolution of irregular settlements: Mexico City's colonias populares, 1990 to 2005

Abstract

In the context of the recent proliferation of habitat observatories using geographic information systems, this article applies a methodology combining recently available disaggregated census data and various decades of accumulated experience in qualitative fieldwork to observe the recent evolution of Mexico City's irregular settlements. It specifically aims at measuring how irregular settlement creation and consolidation have responded to changes in the macro-economic climate, federal housing policy innovations and local government urban policies over the last fifteen years. The methodology is based on the classification of census tracts into different 'settlement types', referring to the various forms of formal and irregular urbanisation. The resulting variable is incorporated into a database containing longitudinal census and other data, such as date of urbanisation, topology and housing quality indicators. This analysis observes a significant increase in housing production within already-existing irregular settlements between 1990 and 2000, followed by a sharp reduction in their contribution to the provision of additional dwellings in subsequent years, due to the explosion of formal commercial housing production. This suggests the need for further research into the possible impoverishment of existing and new irregular settlements as better-off households opt for formal housing solutions