Governance Matters
Rethinking a Megalopolis:
A Metropolitan Government
Proposal for the Mexico City
Metro Area
State and Local Government Review
43(2) 144-150
ª The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X11414917
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Bruce J. Perlman1 and Juan de Dios Pineda Guadarrama1
Abstract
This essay looks at the governance arrangements and challenges of ‘‘Mexico City,’’ one of the largest and
most complex capital cities in the world and a true ‘‘Megalopolis.’’ The essay begins by presenting the
background of the governmental structure of the Mexico City area which includes both old districts
and a new metropolitan zone. It then goes on to present some of the challenges facing this structure,
including basic service delivery and infrastructure provision for the geographically large, diverse, and
sometimes politically disparate area. The complicated governance and administrative structure which
must meet these challenges is then explained. Finally, the essay concludes with some proposals for
rethinking this governance structure to make it more efficient and representative.
Keywords
national capital, city-state government, Metropolitan Area, public, services, service delivery,
democratic governance
Introduction
As a national capital, a city-state government,
and the center of an enormous Metropolitan
Zone which bears its name, Mexico City is one
the world’s great Metropolitan Areas or as
some have styled them, Megalopolis. As such,
Mexico City is presented with two fundamental
difficulties both due to its size and importance.
The first is the challenge of delivering basic
public services to its numerous residents. These
basic services include waste collection and
treatment, public transportation, public safety,
employment, electricity, water, and air pollution, among others. The second hurdle is the
lack of authority to do this and adequate organization to carry it out.
This raises the question of whether Mexico
City’s political and administrative structure
should be redesigned to result in both better public services as well as better government. This
redesign of governance would necessitate not
only a new local political structure but a new
structure for intergovernmental relations within
the Metro Area as well. Moreover, a functional
design would present many opportunities for
improvement but also might emphasize current
problems in governance and service delivery.
1
UNM School of Public Administration, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Corresponding Author:
Bruce J. Perlman, UNM School of Public Administration,
University of New Mexico, Social Sciences Bldg, 3rd Floor,
Room 3004, MSC05 3100, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Email: [email protected]
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Perlman and Guadarrama
145
This short, descriptive essay has four sections
following. In the first, Mexico City’s metropolitan area is described. In the second, the principal
challenges for effective democratic governance
of Mexico City are presented. Third, brief proposals for improving both government and governance in Mexico City, considered as a City
and a megalopolis, are presented. In closing, the
essay offers a short final reflection on the subject
by way of conclusion.
Background
In some ways, what is called ‘‘Mexico City’’
exists on three different levels. The first is the
old city of Mexico City, which is a smaller part
of the Federal District or Distrito Federal (DF)
of the United Mexican States and one of its
districts. The second is the DF itself, which
bears officially the name Mexico City as the
nation’s capital. The third level is the Metropolitan Zone of Mexico City (MZMC), which is a
larger administrative and planning zone used in
Mexico.
The Federal District: A City of Cities
Mexico City is the name of the Federal District
or DF of the United Mexican States and the
nation’s capital city. What was traditionally
called ‘‘Mexico City’’ is a much smaller area
that has been merged into the DF over time and
includes the historic city and colonial city center or Zocalo. Geographically, the DF resides in
the State of Mexico (a Mexican State) but as the
national capital of Mexico, or the Federal
District, is separate from it. It has sixteen delegaciones (strictly translated as delegations, but
perhaps better translated as ‘‘districts’’ and
thought of as areas with a somewhat independent character like the ‘‘boroughs’’ of New
York City). These districts have this character
because, like the traditional ‘‘Mexico City’’
that is one of them, they were all at one-time
independent municipalities. However, they do
no longer administer or deliver services.
The DF is important both economically and
politically. In 2009, the Federal District produced 20.52 percent of the gross domestic
product (GDP) of the nation, equivalent to
almost U.S. $133.000 million (GDF 2010,
197). The per capita GDP of the city is the highest in Mexico, estimated at $18,381.22. As a
City, the Federal District is politically sui
generis in Mexico and perhaps in the world:
as well as being the nation’s capital and therefore home to the principal offices of the
branches of the federal government and capital
of the United States of Mexico it has a local
government with an elected Head of Government, and it shares its jurisdictional governance
with sixteen Chiefs of Delegation who function
like mayors.
The Mexico City Megalopolis:
The MZMC
In addition, the DF is the backbone of one of the
world’s largest metropolitan areas both in
population and geography. This is the MZMC,
which is by some reckoning the third most
populous in the world. Mexico has fifty-six metropolitan areas which act somewhat like regional
governments and somewhat like authorities.
They are responsible for planning and delivering
services that cut across jurisdictions—such as
highways, airports, or water—for the independent municipalities within them. Though they
have considerable power, they are not representative and their government’s are not elected
but appointed. Often, when ‘‘Mexico City’’ is
referred to, both by Mexicans and foreigners, it
is this zone to which they refer. It is this zone
which is the ‘‘Megalopolis’’ of Mexico City.
The MZMC is the area formed by the DF and
forty-one surrounding suburban municipalities—one from the State of Hidalgo, the rest from
the State of Mexico. In practice, this means that
three ‘‘federal entities’’ make up the MZMC: the
two states and the DF. Given that each of the DF’s
districts functions like (and once was) a separate
municipality, it can be said that the MZMC
consists of fifty-seven separate municipalities.
According to the results of the 2010 census, this
area has a population of just over 20.5 million
inhabitants. Of these 8.9 million inhabitants
reside in the Federal District. The United Nations
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146
State and Local Government Review 43(2)
puts the urban area of the metropolitan area as one
of the world’s most populous (INEGI 2011, 128).
Service Delivery Challenges for the
DF and MZMC
Good governance is about political organization but it is about service delivery too. The size
and nature of the service delivery problems in
the MZMC are, to say the least, daunting. A
few examples should suffice to illustrate them:
Potable Water
Water is one of the main problems facing
Mexico City and one of its greatest vulnerabilities. Currently there is an availability of 65
cubic meters per second, which could fill the
stadium Azteca five times a day. A total of 75
percent of water supplied from the underground
aquifer and thus creates serious problems of
drought in other parts of the county. Moreover,
it is estimated that over 35 percent of water
coming in is lost through leakage. Currently,
1,180,000 people still do not have water and
sewer services (GDF 2010, 220).
Transportation
Annually, more than 35 million person-trips in the
metropolitan area: 45 percent in low-capacity
public transport, 17 percent in passenger cars,
11 percent in metro, and 7 percent and 8 percent
in buses and other transport systems, respectively. Over 45 percent of the population takes
between 1 and 4 hr a day in transportation
(STCM 2010, 113)
Air Pollution
The inefficiency of public and private transportation in Mexico City is the main factor in air
pollution. Notwithstanding the measures taken
to combat it, the pollution levels are still unacceptable, especially with regard to ozone and
other photochemical oxidants, mainly generated by vehicles using gasoline and diesel.
Waste Generation
The Federal District alone generates an average
amount of 11,000 tons of garbage a day, enough
to fill the Estadio Azteca (one of the world’s largest soccer stadiums with capacity for 110,000
fans) every 15 days. Without being separated into
different types of waste, trash is prevented from
being properly utilized. If it were treated from its
origin this recycling could reach 88 percent.
Currently, the local government of Mexico City
only recycles 16 percent of all of the waste generated in its territory (BANAMEX 2010, 78).
Public Safety
Due to poverty and unmet social needs, as well
as the inefficiency of the justice system, and the
instability caused by the war on drugs, the
Federal District has one of the highest crime
rates in Mexico. In 1999, it was estimated that
nearly half a million crimes were committed,
more than 5 per 100 inhabitants. Nevertheless,
the local budge allocation for crime control and
social services have decreased year after year
(GDF 2010, 237).
The Complexity of Mexico City
Governance
The Mexico City Megalopolis is a complex set
of governmental entities. It has overlapping
federal and local jurisdictions and a complicated organizational structure. This governance
arrangement will be strained in the coming
years as its already large population continues
to grow and it seeks to efficaciously deliver
services to a number of residents that would
stretch the capacity and resources of any state,
metro area, or city.
Under the federal political statute which creates it (PEGR 1994, 17), the DF is a ‘‘Federated
Entity,’’ which gives it the character of a State
as well as that of a City. Some think of it as
Mexico’s thirty-second state. However, it is the
only federated entity in Mexico which does not
have a local constitution. Instead, it has a
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special political status as the home of the
Mexican federal government.
As the nation’s capital, the DF is nominally
operated by the federal government. In practice
since 1997, the local government is run by an
elected official for the capital city called the
‘‘Head of Local Government.’’ However, the
elected Head of Government in Mexico City
does not have constitutional and regulatory
capacity for the area; rather, the Mexican
President does (Rosique 2006, 46).
For more than 20 years, since1991, there has
been an Assembly of Representatives in
Mexico City which has evolved into a Legislative Assembly. Nevertheless, because of the
jurisdiction of the federal government, this
Legislative Assembly does not have the legal
capacity to make laws like the Houses of Representatives of the other thirty-one states of
Mexico and it cannot make ordinances like city
governments: it can only make regulations to
implement federal law. Likewise, the judicial
branch of the DF does not have any powers of
law enforcement like the other Mexican states
or even other Mexican cities and this rests with
the federal government (Rosique 2006, 125).
There is another unique wrinkle that pertains
in the case of Mexico City and would require
change for the creation of representative Metro
government. In Mexico’s multiparty federal
system, political parties can be either national
or only local (state or city) and both can put
forward candidates for state and local elections.
However, the DF is the only State-like entity
which does not allow state and local political
parties. So, currently the only way to nominate
candidates for elected office in the City-state
DF is through national political parties.
New Proposals for Mexcio City
Governance
The residents of the Federal District increasingly
are demanding self government. Many would
like their own constitution that would allow them
to govern themselves both politically and
administratively. This means structuring a legal,
functional, and representative government for the
DF and potentially for the MZMC. Currently, the
DF functions somewhat like a Mexican state in its
politics and government and it functions somewhat like a city in its provision of public services
to the residents of Mexico City and some of the
surrounding area. Yet, it is not structured politically or organized administratively to do either
very well (Rosique 2006, 115).
One cannot doubt the major problems facing
the Federal District and Metropolitan area.
There is little doubt that some problems such
as security, lack of employment opportunities,
water scarcity, and inadequate transport are
structural and are due to rising population and
the restricted economy which results in falling
revenues and diminished job creation. Other
problems have less to do with the impact of
these administrative problems on government
structures and more to do with government
organization and political or democratic
governance.
The first set of problems provides an
opportunity to improve public services through
more efficient governance structures such as the
increased intergovernmental coordination that
might result from creating a genuine MZMC
administration or authority rather than a loosely
tied group of federated governments. However,
the second sort of problem can best be addressed
through the political and legal redesign of the
Federal District Government and its inclusion
in a genuine democratic government of the metropolitan area that would see it functioning
much more like a state (Bernal 2008, 107).
The DF
The current legal framework is not amenable to
the Legislative Assembly of the DF evolving
through public participation into a sovereign
House of Representatives and operating like the
rest of the thirty-one Mexican states. The time
may be ripe to move from a simple Legislative
Assembly of Representatives to a genuine state
legislature or local council with all the powers
and legal authority necessary for effective
representation of the cities that compose the
DF. This would include creating branches of
local government and a genuine separation of
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powers and checks and balances for legislative,
judicial, and legislative branches.
Doing this would necessitate a move from a
local authority based on and constrained by a
Statute of Local Government to a fully functioning State Level Constitution. A state level
constitution would create a legal framework,
structure, and component parts that represent
a local charter for action. Such a document
would yield certainty and equity in local
arrangements. What would result would be
something like the thirty-second state of
Mexico in fact rather than concept.
A constitution is necessary to achieve political reform that recognizes the DF’s delegations as separate municipalities. Current
delegations or districts’ could then become
self-governing municipalities. The result would
be democratically elected councils in sixteen
municipalities. Obviously, if those receiving
services are closer to the representatives setting
policy for the administration of those services,
it will mean greater accountability and transparency in municipal affairs.
The current figure of the Head of Government would become the constitutional Governor. What matters is not the name change but
this governor would have the sovereign powers
that all state level government executives have
in Mexico. This would enable the Governor to
set policy for the new Metro Jurisdiction like
any of the other Mexican states. The idea is that
this would result in greater coordination and
reduced duplication and overlap among the
municipalities whose municipal presidents
(Mayors) would be subordinate to the statelevel executive (Pérez 2006, 77).
These reforms provide the opportunity to
create local political parties as well. This would
enable closer ties between candidates for office
and local political organizations than exist now.
This change would reduce the influence of
national level political parties in the new Metro
Jurisdiction, which they hold currently in the
DF, by eliminating their hold on that government for political patronage.
Undoubtedly, changing this fact will be part of
the challenge involved in creating a Metro government with full political rights for its citizens.
The MZMC
Genuine democratic governance for the MZMC
would require several ingredients. Principally, it
would entail that federal authorities accept
sovereign, local government in the MZMC and
entails recognition of elected metropolitan
authorities. It would involve some genuine
authority to regulate the activities of the municipalities that make up the metropolitan area under
a single metropolitan government authority. The
opportunity is to create a coordinating authority
to manage Intergovernmental Relations across
the Metro Area. The challenge is to make a new
institution of the other executive, legislative, and
judicial powers in the metropolitan area without
sacrificing existing democratic governance.
Administrative coordination of a Metropolitan Area might be more complex even than the
political maneuvers required for creation of a
government of the Metropolitan Area. An
effective and authentic Metro Area administration would involve the operational association
of numerous jurisdictions: inclusion and
administrative coordination with almost sixty
municipalities in two different states (Mexico
and Hidalgo); collaboration with those two
state governments; administrative coordination
with the sixteen municipalities currently within
the existing Federal District; potentially, a relationship with the current a Head of Local Government for Mexico City (Ramı́rez 2008, 155).
All of this would have to take place within a
framework that recognizes the capital as a creature of the federal government.
The aim is to create greater coordination
among the nearly sixty government units that
provide services in the metropolitan area; if a
genuine state-level government were created
in the DF, this number would rise to nearly
eighty. Such an authority could provide a single
public entity that could design and implement
public policy for shared services across the
Metro area such as water supply, electricity,
waste disposal, transportation, and so forth.
To respond to public demand and keep
public support, this authority would need to
be representative in some way—probably as
planning board of the composite municipalities
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149
rather than a directly representative government. This is necessary so that its decisions can
be mutually agreed upon and implemented
across jurisdictions. In addition, it would need
to have its own management resources and
have to be able to take some autonomous decisions as a quasi-sovereign entity.
Moreover, a Metro government might entail
thinking about legalizing metropolitan parties not
just State and Local ones. In addition, some
rethinking of both the role and organization of the
Federal District will be necessary. Although the
DF municipal government (Chief of Government) is jurisdictionally nearest to citizens at the
local level, because it does not have City Councils
to represent them, it falls short of actually representing them in the governance of the jurisdiction.
In addition, if this approach were successful
in the MZMC it would provide an opportunity
to replicate the framework in the two other
megacities in the center and north of Mexico
(Guadalajara, and Monterrey). A new metropolitan government in the metropolitan area
of Mexico City could demonstrate how coordinated group decisions, adding public resources
together through coordination and accountability, and the use of professionals can lead to
better public service delivery.
This will be possible only if there is a new constitutional arrangement that makes the DF more
like a State government and allows its districts
to become cities within a state administrative
framework. At that point, a planning or
regional authority could form an inclusive metropolitan government that responds to public
needs of citizens through design, implementation, and evaluation of mega-public policies
that are required by a Megalopolis like Mexico
City.
Nevertheless, political reformation in the DF
and the MZMC is just window dressing if it
does not lead to an improved quality of life for
the citizens. This implies more efficient government relations to improve service delivery
public across the numerous government entities
within both the DF and MZMC. Better governance for Mexico City entails the provision of
quality public services in the metropolitan area
in coordination with state and municipal governments and the federal government. Better
governance also suggests institutional reforms,
which are sufficiently equipped with clear
and transparent rules for new institutions based
on accountability, transparency, and good
governance.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
Conclusion
The four sections of this article describe the
challenges facing the megalopolis of Mexico
City in the delivery of public services and democratic governance. However, these challenges
might be considered as two opportunities. The
first is to use the pressure on public services
to achieve real representation for those living
in the DF and the districts that make it up. The
second is to improve intergovernmental coordination of the various federal, local, and
municipal governments that compose this geographical area of more than 20 million people.
However, the two opportunities are related.
Leaving the DF as a federal entity will not provide it an equal footing with the other states or
cities that would participate in an authority that
can plan, design, and fund the infrastructure
necessary for the Mexico City Megalopolis.
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
References
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DF: FCE.
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Bios
Bruce J. Perlman is a professor and former Director
of the School of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico, where he has held the Hatch
Chair in Law and Public Policy and been a Presidential Lecturer. Dr. Perlman has served as Chief
Administrative Officer of the City of Albuquerque
and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of New
Mexico. He has consulted widely with all levels and
many types of governments and businesses both in
the United States as well as with other nations.
Juan de Dios Pineda Guadarrama received his
BA, with honors, in Political Science and Public
Administration from the National Autonomous
University of Mexico, where he was awarded the
‘‘Gabino Barreda’’ University Medal of Merit. He
received his MA, also with honors, in Public
Administration from the Anáhuac University and
his PhD in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS) from the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. He is a
former President of the College of Political Science and Public Administration of Mexico and,
among other academic positions, currently is
Research Professor of the Faculty of Public
Administration at the Benemerita Autonomous
University of Puebla.
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