[Sci-tech-public] 2015 History Seminar Series: Friday, January 23

[Margo F Collett]

You are warmly invited to

“Urban Ejidos: The Agrarian Origins of Urban Development Problems in Post-revolutionary Mexico”

Moramay López-Alonso
Associate Professor, Rice University

The accelerated and disorganized spread of irregular settlements by low-income people is often used as the textbook example of the unequal distribution of the wealth created in post-revolutionary Mexico. Adding to the disorganization, a significant portion of urban properties in Mexican cities furthermore pay no taxes, because the land registries have numerous and serious flaws. Politicians and policymakers agree on the fact that many irregularities exist in urban settlements, and that the lack of property regulation in particular poses multiple challenges to the adequate functioning of cities. Less well known is the origin of these urban problems in agrarian reforms. This study aims to show that the agrarian reforms in fact contributed to some of the most severe challenges that Mexican cities face today, including overcrowding of settlements that lack the basic urban infrastructure, the proliferation of squatters and the low levels of property tax collection.

Friday, January 23
E51-275
4:00-5:30 PM

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