Mexican cities face great challenges: accelerated growth and expansion; demographic transition processes with new types of families, smaller households, and new demands for housing; the climate crisis; and acute social inequality.

Furthermore, the urban model established in recent decades is one of low density, disconnection, and dispersion, and it presents serious and varied problems: environmental issues such as the urbanisation of large areas of agricultural or environmentally valuable land, higher emissions of pollutants, and increased water stress; economic issues such as the loss of productivity due to increased travel times or traffic congestion; and social issues such as the increase in socio-spatial segregation and inequality of access to urban services.

The change to an alternative compact, connected, coordinated, clean, and equitable urban model (4C + E) is a necessity to overcome the social gaps, address the climate and environmental crises, and promote economic development for the entire population.

Driving Change with Evidence-Based Research

A new working paper from our Mexico Programme ‘Mexican cities: expansion trends and their impacts’ aims to analyse the current challenges in Mexican cities and to transmit that information to the general public. To achieve this, the publication has three elements:

1. Analysis of urban expansion processes between 2000 and 2018
2. Evolution of greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollutants in metropolitan areas
3. Measurement of access to employment and public facilities by socioeconomic group and housing location.

To encourage the urban paradigm shift, the Coalition for Urban Transformation (la Coalición por la Transformación Urbana) seeks to support national governments in developing science-based research aimed at public policy design.

This publication is the second installment in the CTU México research programme series led by the Instituto de Recursos Mundiales México (WRI Mexico), with the support of C40, Tecnológico de Monterrey, UN Habitat, ICLEI, Fundar, Oxfam, PUEC UNAM, FA UNAM, CEPAL, Techo México, GIZ, the College of Urbanists of Mexico, IDOM and ITAM.