Historical Course of Urban and Regional Development in an Area in Western Mexico

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to consider some of the characteristics of the phenomena of centralization and urban concentration based on data from various information sources on the change process that has taken place in one region in western Mexico. Within the specific framework of regional historical development, the author explores the relationship between the objectives of some of the de facto policies pursued by national development and the local and regional circumstances that have facilitated certain changes -sometimes negative, sometimes positive - in the well-being of the so-called "Bajio zamorano". The paper suggests how a medium-sized city like Zamora has become the center around which a series of economic, social and political relationships of the surrounding area have been organized. Al the same time, the city has, served as a mediator between the national and local levels. The data presented serves a larger purpose than simply to characterize the nation's course as one of "centralization" or "concentration". The point to the multiple meaning of the different effects that have resulted from the dynamics of the regional changes that have occurred so far this century.