A new series, featuring a city or region for a month – each post with a few images and a short commentary. Beginning with Mexico for January.
Here’s the part of Mexico City you see from the plane looking southeast when landing at or leaving from MEX:
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That’s a small slice of the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere, the tenth largest agglomeration, and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. The population is estimated to be about 21 million (8.8 million in CDMX – the federal district – as the city brands itself).
The piece you see above is Nezahualcóyotl – more commonly Ciudad Neza – “looked down upon by the residents of Mexico City proper, calling it ‘mi-Nezota’ or ‘Neza York,’ which refers to its sprawling size, and urban atmosphere devoid of the colonial structures in the center of town.” This is not a part of Mexico City people like me put on their itinerary, though a visit by Google is safe enough, and often surprising. Much of it looks vital, maintained and greener than you’d expect:
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Neza has an official population of 1.2 million – about half the population of Metro Vancouver – in an area about the size of the City of Vancouver.
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But here’s the thing: the population of the entire Mexico City region – equal to about two-thirds of all Canadians – fits into an area with a diameter not much greater than Metro Vancouver, almost all in two-storey structures.
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So it’s true: if you don’t like highrises, there is an alternative. Here, it looks like this:
Very cool! I have never been to Mexico City but I am curious about it.
So if we have the population of Canada living in an area twice the size of Mexico City and use an average of 3-storey buildings, then we’ll be pretty well set up?
Yep. All we’d need is a lot of large extended families living together, like much of the rest of the world.
On another note, trying to take the Metro from the airport to the Zocalo was quite an experience. Three different routes, all packed solid late on a Friday night.
Yes, you could have extended families living together, in the large houses we have in Vancouver today. Or you could have our present smaller households, living in smaller houses.
If we want to reduce our use of highrises, one alternative that needs to be explored is zoning that allows smaller houses on smaller lots. Pioneers in the “small homes” movement are finding that a well-designed small house is perfectly fine.
I was always under the impression that Mexican cities were very old and historic but what strikes me is the solid evenly spaced grid as opposed to having any hint of a medieval organic street pattern even in the core.
My first impression of the aerial photo is that there’s no space. I know the climate is different, but I don’t see much green.
Vancouver has for the most part chosen to leave space between buildings and space between buildings and streets. If we followed the Mexican model we could pack a lot more people into the city and perhaps lower the cost of housing, but would we lose some of what makes this city a desirable place to live? And where would all the rain go? Our yards, even if not used for much more than decoration, soften the city, add natural colour and absorb some of the copious precipitation.