Getting Mexico’s cities right is vital to reduce poverty, ensure sustainable economic development, and reduce carbon emissions. In November 2018, the Coalition launched its Mexico programme, La Coalición por la Transformación Urbana (CTU), a major new initiative looking to support the national government of Mexico in its mission to transform its urban areas. CTU, led by WRI México, brought together leading institutions in urban development with the aim of identifying, designing and evaluating public policies for more dynamic, healthy and prosperous cities.

Following a twin-track research and engagement approach, the programme also supported the central government in implementing global agendas including the New Urban Agenda, the SDGs and the Paris Agreement for and with their cities. Working primarily on issues of housing, land management, urban planning systems and metropolitan coordination, and mobility and transportation, CTU served as a major resource for evidence-based ideas to address the most important challenges facing Mexican cities.

The programme provided a clear, rigorous picture of the economic, social equity and climate impacts of Mexico’s existing housing, infrastructure, and urban planning policies. The Coalición quantified the benefits of alternative scenarios and explored ways to improve coordination of national climate, transport, housing, energy, and urban development policy.

Our latest paper investigates how the national and local governments in Mexico can create a ‘city of rights’ by acting cooperatively using shared guiding principles. By encouraging a transition towards a compact, connected, coordinated, clean and equal urban model (4C + E), they can guarantee sustainability, resilience and environmental preservation whilst fairly distributing opportunities in the urban space for the population.

The report is the result of two years of work and research by our team in Mexico and La Coalición por la Transformación Urbana. 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.