Residential Mobility in Mexico City

Abstract

This paper analyzes the ex-post of one aspect of the process of intra-urban migration, in other words, the effect of the decision to move or seek alternative housing by a high number of family units involved in the process. An aggregate analysis of this nature implies examining the changes experienced by the metropolitan structure of Mexico City at the end of the period when the phenomenon of intra-metropolitan mobility was registered (1995-2000). The point, then, is not to show the pattern of spatial differentiation at a specific time, but rather to reveal the changing trends experienced by urban structure over time, unlike a synchronic section that uses stock variables to show the spatial distribution pattern of these variables.

The authors have sub-divided the Metropolitan Zone of Mexico City into concentric rings and urban zones or sectors. This recourse has long been used in urban social geography to simplify the distribution patterns of individuals and households with numerous economic and social characteristics that interact in a complex fashion within urban space. The use of these spatial models shows the relationships that occur between housing characteristics, residents’ attributes and their location in urban space.