Typology of the Municipalities in the Valley of Mexico Metropolitan Area by Degree of Rurality-Urbanity

Abstract

In regions such as Mexico City and its metropolitan area (ZMVM), it is difficult to define traditionally and dichotomically the territories as "rural" or "urban", because of its diversity and complexity. This is so because the examples presented intertwine their attributes and create an amalgam of sociocultural characteristics that trascend this dichotomy. For the purposes of land use and spatial purposes in the ZMVM, this question arises: how to recategorize the municipalities that make up that area to understand the particularities in the dynamics and processes of urbanization, of regional economic integration, or even territorial conservation, which they have experienced individually over time? The objective of this work was a municipal categorization which helps understand the nuances of rural-urbanization in the ZMVM. The 76 municipalities and municipal governments that make it up were classified into four categories (rural, semi-rural, urban, and peri-urban). A series of common characteristics of each category and its were then identified, which, when analysed using GIS, illustrated the composition of the regional elements. The analysis allows us, to infere and document the processes of industrialization, population promotion, abandonment or cultural resistance to which these spaces have been subjected. This allows us, to characterize the different levels of urbanization (or tendency to urbanize) that are presented at the municipal level, and therefore to optimize the resources available for territorial management, land use planning or even identification of risk areas, among others.