Cities are the main engine of the Mexican economy. They generate 90% of the national GDP, and are home to two thirds of the Mexican population. However, cities face important challenges that need to be addressed, especially concerning air quality, water supply and management, the quality of life of the population and social inequalities. For these reasons, cities play a fundamental role in the fight against the climate crisis and growing inequality.

To fulfil this role, cities must transition to a compact, connected, coordinated, clean and equal urban model (4C + E), whose growth is planned, in which citizens can move efficiently and are able to enjoy the city. In order to achieve this, the different levels of government must act cooperatively under shared guiding axes, in order to guarantee sustainability, resilience and environmental preservation, and to fairly distribute opportunities in the urban space for the population. In short, it is about creating a city of rights.

Six clusters of federal urban policies to transform cities

Our new working paper Federal Actions for Urban Planning: Towards Better Cities for All analyses opportunities and possible lines of action in federal urban public policies to enable an urban transformation towards a more sustainable and inclusive model. The different areas of opportunity were analysed according to six clusters:

1. Housing
2. Land management and expansion control
3. Sustainable urban mobility
4. Urban resilience and risk management
5. Metropolitan governance
6. Financing of urban development

The report is the result of two years of work and research by our team in Mexico. The research was led by the Instituto de Recursos Mundiales Mexico (WRI Mexico), with the support of Cities, GGGI, El Colegio de Mexico, Tecnológico de Monterrey, UN Habitat, ICLEI, Fundar, Oxfam, UNAM, CEPAL, Techo Mexico, GIZ, El Colegio de Urbanistas de Mexico, IDOM and ITAM.