Thresholds of Informality | Mexico City Assessing the Informal Domesticities of Xochimilco Wajiha Ibrahim
Contextualizing The Trajinera wajiha ibrahim assignment 03
[Federal Zone]
“Respect my fence and I will respect yours”
Table of Contents 01 urbanization trends 02
graying of green zones
03 xochimilco in context 04 thresholds 05 architectonic elements 06 caltonga embarcadero images 07 landscape assessment
1976
1990
Urbanization Trends| Xochimilco1
I
Urbanization and the Growth of Informal Housing
2000
Xochimilco, nested within the fragmented urban fabric of Mexico city’ has exhibited varying patterns of urbanization in recent decades. Before the 1970s, the district grew at an annual rate of 5%, but data shows that in the period 1970-1990, the growth rate was 2.6% and the following decade, the rate fell to 1.69%. Despite the diminishing growth rate of Xochimilco, the district is characterized by growing social fragmentation and socio-spatial inequality. While the growth of informal housing cannot be conflated as a symptom of urbanization, it is cruicial to understand the regions dynamics of urbanization in comparison to those of informalization. Ultimately, both phenomenon are informed by mutual factors of governance and urban negligence.
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2
Xochimilco Ecological Park
The “Graying” of “Green”Zones| Xochimilco Encroaching Urbanization and Pressures on Conservation Land
Caltonga Embarcadero
About 82% of Xochimilco’s total area is designated as conservation land.2 The sub-district includes over 10,000 hectares or approximately 12% of the Federal District’s total conservation land, and between 295 and 300 informal settlements or roughly 36% of the total number of irregular settlements on conservation land in the Federal District.3 Despite prohibitions against residential use in protected areas of the city’s conservation zones, recent urban development plans for Xochimilco aim to regulate the proliferation of informal settlements through these ‘green zones’. Almost half of Xochimilco’s population resides in irregular or informal settlements and as these populations grow, we recognize the so called “graying of green” phenomenon. Assignment 03
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Caltongo Embarcadero
3
The Caltongo Embarcadero introduces the trajinera dock and adjacent canal referenced as a case-study for this report.
The shaded areas represent informal settlements in Xochimilco–as identified by cartographers and urban researchers of the region–in year 2000. As of 2014, these settlements have grown to house over half of the districts population.
Context| Xochimilco City District
Xochimilco Population by Sex, 20004
49.2%
50.8%
Average Annual Intercensal Growth, 1930-20005 4.5
4.1
4.6
4.2 3.2
2.6 0.9 0.4 1930-1950
1950-1970
1970-1990
1990-2000
Mexico City Xochimilco
Xochimilco Population, 1950-19896 1989
1970
1950
Population Density of Xochimilco (pop/km2), 1950-19907 2323.6
1990 1970
865.6 358.3 Assignment 03
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1950 | 9
4
Green Space Concrete/Open Space
Streetscape Housing
Canal
Thresholds | Caltongo Embarcadero
This study aims to position the phenomenon of informality within the framework of its thresholds. Studying the settlements on the periphery of the Caltongo Embarcadero canals reveals the thresholds that make up the paradox of formalized informality. The side-by-side aerial images of the site shows the existing thresholds between an informal dwelling and the canal, streetscape, and open green space. These identified gateways showcase a constriction of access and exchange between the informal and formal entities. Assignment 03
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Architechtonic Elements | The Dwelling
Wood Planks Placed in a criss-cross, pattern forming a hollow box-like structure which is then hand-packed with stones and occasionally mortar.
Corrugated Tin Metal Affordable tin metal sheets used as roofing.
Tabique Gris Hollow gravel bricks for light weight, low-cost housing construction
Wood Beams Vertical load-carrying columns made of stone and wood. Usually extend up to 2.5m below ground to provide stability in chinampa soil.
Plastic Tarp Thick plastic material used to create seperation between floorboard and soil
Mud Mixed material mud slabs and dry stones used as part of floorboard
Several housing units on the periphery of the Caltongo Embarcadera canals are constructed using similar resources. Many of these materials are readily available at construction or waste sites and are low cost if not free to the user. While the size and style of some dwellings may vary—dependent on tenure security and legnth of informal owrnership—the housing units face the same challenges. The first being restrcited access to resources including streetscapes and green space. Secondly, the aggravation of waste accumulation and its long-lasting effects on mental state of inhabitants. Finally, the construction limitations of building on moist, sponge-like chinampa soil. Assignment 03
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6 Limited access to streetscape exert pressure and social isolation towards informal dwelliers. This encourage sthe use of the Trajinera as a locomotive and commercial medium.
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6 Scattered pattern of urban housing occupation encourages precarious dwellings and limited access to public and social goods.
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6 Environmental degradation and mounting health concerns are attributed to the aggravation of waste mismanagement and a lack of inclusive urban policies overseeing and regulating these lands.
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7
The social and spatial dynamics of informality of Xochimilco in the Federal District of Mexico City are complex and deeply intertwined. Stepping away from the political, economic and social mechanisms of informal housing, I recenter the discussion of informality around the thresholds that define it. Whether these thresholds lie at the base of a housing unit to the edge of the canal or between the informal zones and state owned streetscapes, the characteristics of a given territory influcence the way actors participate and communicate with their landscapes. The collective assessment of a landscape informs how its it’s dwellers can interact with their spaces, how they choose to construct, destruct, expand, contract their dwellings. Moreover, these places are opportunities to make a stance against or in support of state policy, as displayed by signage on properties.
Landscape Assessment | Summary
Works Cited 1
Lopez, Maria Eugenia Terrones. 2004. “A La Orilla Del Agua”. Delegation Xochimilco y Instituto Mora. San Juan, Mexico. pp. 173-175
Wigle, Jill. 2014. “The Graying of Green Zones: Spatial Governance and Irregular Settlement in Xochimilco, Mexico City”. 38(2) pp 573-589. 3 Ibid. 2014. 2
4
Ibid. pp. 168
5
Ibid. pp. 171
6
Ibid. pp. 171
7
Ibid. pp. 168
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