From Ejido to Metropolis, Another Path: An Evaluation on Ejido Property Rights and Informal Land Development in Mexico City (American University Studies #6) (Hardcover)
The factors behind the failure of land use planning in Mexico City, as reflected in the concentration of 65% of its population in irregular settlements, are explored in this book. It documents the structural role that the lack of secure property rights of the "ejidos," the surrounding peasant communities, played in determining such an outcome within the context of the national economic policy of import-substitution industrialization which favored Mexico City's growth. An original policy proposal, whose significance is broader than the specific case of Mexico City, presents an alternative based on privatization of the "ejidos" in the urban periphery and the establishment of land development trusteeships for low-income settlements within the framework of an urban land reserve planning system.
The author: David Cymet received his professional degree as an architect from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico, his Masters in City Planning from MIT and his Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. He taught at the Graduate Division of the School of Architecture of the National University of Mexico for many years, and conducted important urban and environmental policy studies for Mexican government agencies.