Abstract
AbstractMexico City is known as one of the largest cities in the world and thought by many to be one of the most unequal. Not surprisingly, it has received more attention than other Mexican urban areas. However, the city’s internal social organization is often misunderstood. Mexico City stands out as a city where segregation is relatively low, and levels of inequality are actually lower than perceptions. Moreover, between 1990 and 2010, both segregation and inequality have declined. This chapter examines these changes. We report on changes in occupational structure and patterns of segregation by educational level. Educational level is different from income or occupation, but these three dimensions of socioeconomic conditions are closely linked. While the overall level of segregation between educational groups in the city has slightly decreased, residential patterns of educational groups have changed significantly. The number of neighborhoods with high concentrations of highly educated people increased significantly and expanded geographically. At the same time, the prevalence of neighborhoods with residents with low and middle educational attainment has diminished and neighborhoods that house people of all educational categories or high and middle categories are more numerous. This chapter illustrates the complexity of segregation patterns in such a large metropolitan area, as well as the challenges of determining why patterns have changed.
Highlights
Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world and by far the largest in Mexico
The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) has a disproportionate share of high-income households—using a separate dataset from 2015 (INEGI 2015a, b), we find roughly 18% of the households in Mexico City fall into the top decile of earners nationwide
The spatial complexity of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, the vast amalgam of neighborhoods that make up its dozens of municipalities, does not translate to high levels of segregation
Summary
The patchwork of neighborhoods that have developed over centuries form the economic hub of the country, the center of the federal government, and a concentrated cultural repository Cities that dominate their national urban system—primate cities like Mexico City—tend to be richer and more unequal. We assess income inequality and the levels and patterns of residential segregation in the MCMA. Researchers in high-income countries have found a correlation between socioeconomic inequality and residential segregation (Reardon and Bischoff 2011), but evidence for this relationship in Mexico is mixed. This chapter details this connection by first describing the complex spatial and economic structures of the region. The final two sections provide a discussion of the results and possible futures for the city
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