LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN MONTERREY, MEXICO
M
onterrey is located in northeast México at the
foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Is also the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León. With a total population of 1,415,512 is ranked as the 9th city in the nation. The city serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the base of many significant international corporations. It is one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico with a purchase power parity considerably higher than rest of the country’s at around US$32,000 against country’s US$18,800. It is considered a Beta World City, cosmopolitan and competitive. Rich in history and culture, Monterrey is considered one of the most developed cities in the entire country and often regarded as the most “Americanized” city in Mexico. As an important industrial and business center, the city is also home to an array of Mexican companies According to the human resources firm Mercer, Monterrrey is considered the best city in Mexico for quality of life.
The large urban centers, such as the city of Monterrey, being concentrated spaces of human activity are subject to a constant transformation and growth that represents a challenge from the social, economic and environmental point of view.
According to INEGI, the land-use in Monterrey is
43% urbanized,
It has a
vegetation of 34%
4% destinated for agriculture.
matorral, 15% forest and 4% pastureland. In this image we can see that most part of the land use in monterrey is urbanized
This image shows that most of the land destinated for agricuture is outside of the city of Monterrey
services and trade
multifamily housing
mixed use housing
industrial zone
This city has undergone significant transformations in terms of land use: housing areas whose use is displaced by trade and service, as well as the incorporation of new urban areas. The trends of the last decades allow to observe a municipality with characteristics more marked towards the tertiary activities, to the detriment of the original vocation of the soil, the dwelling. The land use designated for housing represents 36.02% of the urban area of the ​​ municipality.
Environmental Planning issues in Monterrey The city of Monterrey faces many problems that have not allowed it to establish an urban program that achieves the balance between social, environmental and economic equity. Therefore, is necessary to analyze the problems from the
3 E-s approaches:
Equity social problems CAR-ORIENTED CITY
BAD PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
CORRUPTION & INSECURITY
UNEMPLOYMENT
60% OF THE STUDENTS DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
Environmental problems DEFORESTATION
AIR POLLUTION
WETLANDS EXCTINTION
DEFICIT IN GREEN AREAS PER CAPITA
LAND USE CHANGE AND CITY GROWTH HAVE AFECTED THE FORESTS
Economic problems LOW SALARIES BUDGET FOR ENVIRONMENT HAS DECREASED FROM 760 TO 50 MILLION PESOS
30% OF THE POPULATION REMAINS IN POVERTY
Deficit of Green Areas in Monterrey The presence of
urban green ar-
eas in cities is one of the aspects used today to measure the quality of life of citizens. Among the most common benefits are: increase of physical activity, social integration and a better quality of life for the population. However, the vegetation in the city not only has an ornamental function, but also has a
regulating role of environmental
aggression: they prevent natural disasters in marginal populations and provide the population with natural places to safeguard the quality of precious resources such as air and water, constitute a filter against pollution and represents an excellent regulator of the exchange of air, heat and humidity with the urban environment. Urban green areas also have the potential to provide citizens with direct
eco-
nomic benefits through agriculture and urban forestry. They also have positive effects on the resident population. For instance, the creation of green areas in the cities and the presence of landscaped areas in the neighborhoods increase the sense of
security among neighbors,
reducing the crime rate and violence.
According to data from the Department of Sustainable Development in Monterrey, from 2000 to 2010, the land use of forest to urban land was changed to 80,000 hectares. From 2010 to 2015 was changed to 81,000 hectareas The map shows the green areas in monterrey considering mountains
The
lack of planning and the introduction of non-native species, brought an environ-
mental catastrophe in 2011, when a mass of cold air hit the city and the temperature dropped to -5
° C. During this event
a significant amount of the city’s trees died, since they did not resist the hostile local climatic conditions. Prior to this event in 2009, it was estimated that the urban green area presented around 80% of non-native vegetation in parks, green areas and homes. Currently the city of Monterrey has
6.2 m2
of green area per capita and is below the standard of
9 m2 of green area per capita, des-
ignated by the:
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO).
The image shows how Santa Lucia riverwalk connects the Fundidora Park and the Macroplaza
The deficit is 1
million trees and would require 25 similar areas to the Fundidora Park to reach the minimum of nine square meters of green area per person.
The Macroplaza
Santa Lucia Riverwalk
Fundidora Park
Land-use changes in Santa Catarina River and Hurricane Alex Known as a death and dry river, the Santa Catarina River contains important vegetation that city of Monterrey. It is actually a natural lung that controls the particles of the air are captured and is the main factor of
provides oxygen to the
water drainage in the city. Thanks to the trees, pollutant
climate regulation. Also, the river contains native species
of flora and fauna
Santa Catarina river has an aproximate extension of 45 km The Santa Catarina River contains a huge biodevirsity in its wetlands
Trees:
Sabine Willow Poplar Broom Tronadora Huizache Mezquite Anacahuita Walnut Jaboncillo
Birds:
Collar Duck Chachalaca Quail Bright Iris White Heron Hawk Hummingbird Horned owl Kingfisher Seagull Peregrine falcon
Fishes: Sardine Tent Catfish Mojarra
Amphibians: toads green frog bull frog leopard frog
Reptiles:
turtles iguanas chameleon lizard of the trees striped lizard black vibe coral false coral water snake
Mammals: tweet armadillo skunk rabbit / hare chipmunk coyote lynx
Knowing that the river houses an important structure on the stream bed of the river.
ecosystem for the city, the government approved a project to construct infra-
Sports courts, parking areas and even an area of ​commerce
that was known as “Mercado Puente del Papa� were built under the bridge with the same name.
This image shows that on the stream bed of the river sports fields and parking areas were constructed The land use of the river changed to place a market: Mercado puente del papa
In 2010, the
hurricane Alex hit the city and
damaged all the infraestructure that was developed in the river. Afterwards, the that most of that
CONAGUA determined
infraestructure should
not have been allowed.
CONAGUA removed the silting of the channel of the river and removed all the structures that blocked the water runoff. The goal is that the Santa Catarina River can be better prepared for the next hurricane. The removal of 7.5 million m3 of silting is estimated at a cost of 3 billion pesos. Also, after studying in detail the capacity of the Santa Catarina River, the
Nowadays, the river keeps its natural state. Nevertheless, the municipal government has considered to re-develop the sports fields on the stream bed of the river in spite of the warnings of the
CONAGUA.
This image shows the masterplan of the sport fields that the goverment tries to develop in spite of the hurricane Alex
Public Transportation and air pollution All cities depend to a large extent on its Road Structure, however, the city of Monterrey has one of the
most expensive public transportation systems in the country since it costs its passengers about 30% of their income due to bad planning of the road routes and even when making use of this service take about 1 hour to translate to its final destination and the people with low incomes that make use of this service live far from their jobs. That is why, there is a slowdown in the use of public transportation in the city of Monterrey and use of car has increased as the main way of transportation. This is why Monterrey is considered a car-oriented city.
In the last 15 years the growth of registered vehicles has been accelerated, much more than the population growth, during this period the average annual rate for the Municipality of Monterrey was 6%. Also the parking
areas have increased between 5% and 7%
every year
Registered Vehicles 1997 - 2001
the metro does not provide a connection in a big part of the city. Which means that bus routes must be used
In the metropolitan area of Monterrey is
burned more than 1.6 million liters of die-
sel and about 4.5 million liters of gasoline per day. That is why it required a better planning of the city implementing measures such as: vehicle
verification, reduce
the use of the car, improve the public transportation to be faster and safer. According to the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness, Monterrey is the second most polluted city in the country due to poor air quality contaminated by particles smaller than
10
microns. CONCLUSION Despite being one of the most developed cities in Mexico, Monterrey has many social, economic and environmental problems to achieve a correct environmental planning. The lack of vision of correct longterm city planning and government corruption are reflected in erroneous decisions such as land-use change that end up with the green areas of the city and cause deforestation. Therefore, green areas are important to solve problems such as air and water pollution. On the other hand, problems like the correct planning of an efficient and safe public transportation have affected the city in a way that users depend more on the car and this means more gases and pollutants that affect the air and the construction of roads that increase the carbon footprint. It should be noted that all these problems are also related to a society that still has little access to education and decent jobs that makes them develop the necessary values so they can give importance to the natural resources that the city has to offer.
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