Regional impact of industrial parks and cities in Mexico

Abstract

In this article, the author analyzes the regional ditribution of the 127 industrial parks and cities existing in Mexico, in order to determine consistency with policies geared toward industrial decentralization and a reduction in regional inequalities. It is observed that the central-eastern region of the country, comprised of the Federal District and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Queretaro, Tlaxcala, and Morelos, the most highly industrialized and populated one in the country, has the greatest number of industrial parks, in blatant, contradiction with the objetives of interregional industrial decentralization. From an intra-regional perspective, these parks meet the demand for industrial units on the outskirts of the metropolitan zone of Mexico City; the construction of the same is counterproductive for decentralization, because it promotes the formation of a megalopolitan-type, excess economic and demographic concentration. Considering the group of 8 regions into which the country was divided, it was concluded that both at an inter- regional and intra-regional level, there is no relation between the distribution and performance of industrial cities and parks and the program's objetives; thus, the most important policy for decentralization instituted by the Mexican government has not managed to have a meaningful impact on regional dynamics.