ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the urban evolution of Mexico City Metropolitan Area and describes the territorial changes that have occurred over the past century. Its economic function and productive structure are depicted and the prevailing urban structure is identified. The chapter also reviews the governance frame within which metropolitan development takes place. Exploratory spatial data analysis shows that the territorial expansion of the metropolitan area continues, incorporating an increasing number of residential developments far from the city centre, but with the population locating further from the centre, jobs remain much more centralised. This spatial separation between the locations of jobs and housing imposes a particular penalty on this huge metropolitan area. The literature shows that many of the characteristics of urban expansion in Mexico City have depended on governance and political institutional processes involving the use and allocation of land, which, in turn, have had important impacts on the economic performance of the metropolitan area. All of these problems associated with Mexico City’s dysfunctional urban structure threaten the position of one of the largest megacities in the world as a global player.
