Contributions of land use planning for effective urban containment in Mexico

Abstract

Sustainability occupies the political, economic and social agenda of every city in the XXI century, and the phenomenon of urban expansion is strongly related. The size of the city depends largely on the impact it has on the environment, the demand for basic services, infrastructure and equipment, as well as means of transport for urban mobility. What ultimately, it has a direct impact on the quality-of-life of its inhabitants. We might think that the size of each city is directly proportional to the size of its population, but this is not necessarily so. In Mexico, the urban population has nearly doubled in the last thirty years, while the extent of urban expansion has grown an average 10 times. It is now recognized that for an effective urban containment, is not enough to set limits on a growth plan for this to be true. It is necessary to coordinate the planning of the territory with its efficient participatory management and proper implementation. This implies not only challenges for urban management, but also requires a change of approach for the territory arrangement.