Studying Mexico City's Informal Housing

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.

Assignment 03

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 5

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

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 7

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

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

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

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 11

5

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

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 13

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.

Assignment 03

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 15

6 Scattered pattern of urban housing occupation encourages precarious dwellings and limited access to public and social goods.

Assignment 03

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 17

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.

Assignment 03

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 19

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

Assignment 03

THRESHOLDS OF INFORMALITY

| 21