Adrián
@elenoam
Urbanista whitexican
Google Street Viewing Mexico's dilapidated housing developments is more fun than visiting them in person. Usually I go with a driver who is too afraid to stop or drive slowly.
Anyway, just one more case of shitty Mexican Urbanism requiring 1 parking space per units for social housing developments where 25% of households own a car.
Some Mexican cities are going to experience a period of proper urban decline in the upcoming years. Interestingly, many of those declining cities remain important migration destinations within their own states (Tuxtla, Xalapa, Oaxaca, Durango, Villahermosa).
Spent my week in Oaxaca. Like every Mexican World Heritage Site, it is annoyingly car-centric.
Riding the new AIFA-Buenavista line. Annoying how this country can’t comprise any timetables.
The city government was surprised by their super low percentage of apartment dwellings.
Working for the city of Saltillo, like every Mexican city, infill development is de facto banned by regulation. In this case: ridiculously high setbacks, height restrictions by street width, and dwelling densities too low for the FAR.
Mexican planners be like: we allow multifamily buildings, as long as you don't exceed this super low single-family dwelling density.
Using Gemini to lobby a TOD norm in the Greater Guadalajara Area. They are afraid of an FAR of 10.0.
Wait! They did approve our proposal to further reduce parking mandates in the center of Mexicali 🥳 1 per 2 units; no requirements for units below 460 sqft.
Mexico doesn't build apartments because planners have massively misunderstood of how dwelling densities actually work. I you read any Urban Plan of a Mexican, they will always state how the city should densify; then, they'll set relatively high FARs with super low dwelling density allowance.
Saltillo has under 1% apartments. 75% of its residential land is zoned for low densities that ban multifamily. The remaining 25% has a FAR too high relative to dwelling limits that makes apartments unfeasible.
Reading about Mexico’s historical taboo. Mexicans will never accept that proper nation-building only started after the US took the half of Mexico.
Mind blown by this 52 story, 471 unit tower in Monterrey. It is crazy how a poorly written ordinance for Transit Oriented Development, which freed FAR and densities, fostered so many projects.
Puebla has the highest population decline of all Mexican World Heritage Historic Centers :(
I know it’s not ok to romanticize poverty, and all that. But I’ve been cycling through this (cool) informal settlement in the old rail right-of-way for ten years; and felt like sharing it.
Nuevo León mandates 160 sqft parking setbacks, creating weird housing designs. Most families eventually expand into this space anyway.