Impulsando Nuevas Prác!cas de Cooperación Técnica y Polí!co Ins

ImpulsandoNuevasPrác3casdeCooperación
TécnicayPolí3coIns3tucional
28 Y 29 DE JULIO DE 2016
Salón de Honor, ex Congreso Nacional
SANTIAGO DE CHILE ORGANIZA
DianeE.Davis
BarriersandEnablerstoMetropolitanCoordina2on:
EvidencefromtheStudyofSocialHousingProduc2oninMexico
• 
Rethinking efforts to densify housing producOon through policy incenOves as the basis for
more effecOve metropolitan coordinaOon
MetropolitanThinking
Given the barriers to insOtuOonalizing effecOve metropolitan
governance in many countries, it is important to begin by creaOng
“metropolitan consciousness” through deeds and not just words.
Assessing INFONAVIT’s Progress:
Barriers and Enablers to DensificaOon in Seven Metro Areas Across Mexico
Tijuana
Monterrey
Guadalajara
Mérida
Aguascalientes
Cancún
Oaxaca
Poli3calandEconomicContext
The growth and territorial expansion of ciOes is related to developmental successes of the past and to the
emergence of a growing middle class who oaen hold new consumpOon income and desires, parOcularly as related to
housing. As such, many of the previous policies that fostered rapid urban growth were formulated at the naOonal
scale, with an eye to naOonal economic compeOOveness. Given these dynamics, any effort to change the dynamics
of city building or the local housing industry through the imposiOon of metropolitan schemes holds the potenOal to
generate push back from housing developers and naOonal stakeholders who see housing as a driver of naOonal GDP.
.
•  Control over land use and permibng makes municipaliOes unwillling to cede authority upwards.
•  Developers protect their financial bocom lines by finding municipaliOes with few restricOons.
•  Developer and ciOzen support for single-family homes further limits efforts to densify.
•  Increased spaOal inequality along income lines results from these market and (local) state logics. In Mexico recent pacerns of sprawl and metropolitan-scale urban expansion have led to high rates of housing
abandonment, further creaOng zones of deterioraOon, insecurity, and neglect, and thus reinforcing the
contradicOons between naOonal and local aims, parOcularly with respect to ciOzens and urban authoriOes. Such
problems increase the calls for metropolitan coordinaOon and oversight of housing development, although existent
insOtuOonal design prevents success.
IMAGENO
GRÁFICO
As local municipaliOes reap direct revenues from approval of projects built on cheap and underserviced peripheral lands, infrastructure scarciOes
abound, requiring more metropolitan coordinaOon and a new way of establishing housing and transportaOon synergies.
ContemporaryUrbaniza3on
PaLernsinMexicoRequire
MetropolitanCoordina3on
Private sector housing developers have become cognizant that the
mass produc3on of housing has its limits, although they remain
reluctanttoalterindustrymodelsanddevelopmenttypologiesforthe
purposesofsustainableurbanism.
Evenso,worriesaboutdecliningprofitability,fueledbytheincreasein
abandonedhousingwhichdrivesdowncostsandthreatenstodamper
demand for more new housing, puts developers in a precarious
situa3on with respect to future revenues. BeLer coordina3on of
housinginvestmentscouldhelphousingproducersaswell.
IMAGENO
GRÁFICO
BarrierstoDensifica3on(Expected)
Failure to advance densificaOon at the metropolitan scale owed to the over-whelming power allocated to
municipaliOes, a situaOon complicated when private developers retained large land reserves in peripheral areas.
Despite advances towards densificaOon in single municipali1es, whether in the form of new infill projects or greater
housing verOcality, municipaliOes that were geographically situated in the most central locaOons were oaen the least
likely to advance densificaOon, owing to land costs and to developer pressures to approve housing on peripheral
land reserves.
•  When densificaOon iniOaOves were proposed for wealthier municipaliOes, the struggle for permit approval was
oaen so Ome-consuming that developers turned elsewhere.
•  Although there existed more planning capacity in higher end neighborhoods, there was also more organized
opposiOon from local residents, who feared that denser housing to change the character of their communiOes
In poorer municipaliOes, which also tended to be the more distant and underserviced ones, more housing was
approved, thus driving sprawl and reinforcing metropolitan-level problems resulOng from the lack of servicing and
transportaOon infrastructure. These dynamics reinforced socio-spaOal inequality, thus producing greater disparity in
land costs between rich and poor municipaliOes, further driving fragmentaOon and the vicious cycle of peripheral
and uncoordinated housing development.
BarrierstoDensifica3on(Unexpected)
The most important – and to a great degree unexpected -- finding was that progress on densifica1on at a metro
scale was a func1on of how many municipali1es existed in any given metropolitan areas. This was significant for
several reasons, and not just because it directly affected the likelihood that the same poliOcal party would be in
power within a single metro area and across the other relevant scales (i.e at the state level and even the naOonal). •  Number of municipaliOes is oaen a funcOon of the size and age of ciOes.
•  Number of municipaliOes affects the balance of power between developers and local authoriOes.
•  Number of municipaliOes determines the extent to which poliOcal parOes can coordinate horizontally and
verOcally around metropolitan governance aims.
In the ciOes with the largest number of municipaliOes at play, coordinaOon was most difficult, and this suggests that
effecOve metropolitan coordinaOon is a poliOco-insOtuOonal design problem: it has a lot to do with local territorial
configuraOons and the size and nature of the poliOcal jurisdicOons that comprise a metropolitan area. MunicipalFragmenta2onandProgress
onHousingDensifica2on
LeastSuccesseswithDensifica3on
Monterrey(13)4,106,054 Guadalajara(9)4,434,878 Oaxaca(22)607,964 (numberofmunipali2es&citysize)
GreatestSuccesseswithDensifica3on
Aguascalientes(3)932,369 Tijuana(3)1,751,430
Cancun(2)677,379
Merida(5)973,046 EnablersofDensifica3on
Governing authoriOes posiOve role in producing becer local outcomes appears to be closely correlated with the
size of the state and metropolitan region, the number of metropolitan municipaliOes, as well as a concentraOon
of populaOon and poliOcal power in more central municipaliOes. •  Such condiOons increase the potenOal for accessing public resources to make infrastructure investments that
make social housing projects appealing to both ciOzens and developers.
•  Small and mid-size developers show more commitment to accommodate public projects while also
demonstraOng greater willingness to experiment with urban infill projects that integrate social housing. •  When public authoriOes have access to land reserves they are more likely to spearhead projects.
State-level leadership can play an important role in advancing metropolitan densificaOon through specialized
legislaOon (as in Guadalajara, Jalisco), by guiding coordinaOon among different actors (as in Aguascalientes),
and mobilizing resources to ensure successful compleOon of projects (as in Merida, Yucatan).
RethinkingHousinginLightof
MetropolitanGovernance
(andvice-versa)
UrbanizaOon pacerns are directly structured by housing
locaOon and by the incenOves, regulaOons, and opportuniOes
available for coordinaOng housing supply and a network of
urban services. Private developers will not take the lead in
changing their model without incenOves or co-producOon
schemes. Yet mots municipal authoriOes are poorly equipped to
handle densificaOon, whether because of the legislaOve reforms
required, the financial costs implied in ensuring that
infrastructure is adequately prepared, or the clear need to
effecOve coordinated with a wide range of partners in order to
sustain advancement toward well located and sustainably built
housing, thus resulOng in effecOve densificaOon. I
It is not just that metropolitan coordinaOon is needed to
produce denser housing. Making progress on housing will in
turn lay the groundwork for a more compact and sustainable
metropolitan area.
IMAGENO
GRÁFICO
HousingasMoreThanaCommodity
The challenge at hand is to depart from the habit of viewing housing as merely a commodity, and to discover new
ways to u1lize housing investments to produce be<er ci1es, thus laying the foundaOon for more producOve forms of
urbanizaOon that themselves can feed back on housing investments to generate aggregate value creaOon.
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Housing as subject not object
Housing as an acOvator of new forms sociability outside (and not just inside) the unit Housing as opportunity for creaOng a more well-networked metropolis Housing as a collecOve good
If housing conOnues to be conceived merely as a private good, one is likely to see urbanizaOon pacerns that
consume significant amounts of land per capita, and which will generate larger infrastructure installaOon and
maintenance costs in order to extend water, sewage, and electricity networks over long distances so as to reach
peripheral and less dense developments. Such pacerns are costly, require major public investments, and are as likely
to absorb as create new revenue streams, whether emanaOng from the municipality, state, or federal government. In
contrast, planned, compact and well-located housing will reinforce efficient spaOal arrangements that, in turn, can
reduce iniOal capital investments in infrastructure as well as operaOng and maintenance costs. ImpulsandoNuevasPrác3casdeCooperación
TécnicayPolí3coIns3tucional
28 Y 29 DE JULIO DE 2016
Salón de Honor, ex Congreso Nacional
SANTIAGO DE CHILE ORGANIZA
PATROCINAN