Mega-Cities and Contamination:
Mexico City:
i.
what is a ‘mega-city’?
a. Size = <10 million inhabitants
b. Cultural/governance
importance: site of major social
significance
Bombay: Bollywood/Baliwood,
Mexico City triple whammy:
entertainment, government &
finance
Characteristics of Urban Pollution in
the Global South
1.‘Residential’ Zones become sites of
informal toxic activities
2.Residents often lack protection of
‘individual’ rights and access to
courts to enforce existing laws
3.Relations with toxic polluters are,
in addition, often highly
personalized and patronage linked
4.Resistance to toxic activities:
a. requires extensive networking
among political contacts
b. involves social action at a
neighborhood level
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Political Economy of National Pollution:
Industries and Point-Source pollution in the
Global South
• Industries are a major source of pollution
in the Third World
NICs – Newly Industrializing Countries
Particular pollution forms
water
air
resource utilization
• The industrialization-Urbanization
problem is interlinked
State-based development requires
industries
Industries require workers require
industries
Urban location of industries/Industries
stimulates urban immigration
• Industries pollute urban landscape (PointSource)
Concentrated urban population becomes
secondary pollution source
• Industries create demand for (commodify)
natural materials
capture 'value-added' from raw materials
increase foreign exchange earnings
('Input' Substitution)
natural resource valuation linked to
commodity price
worker-industrial bourgeoisie alliance
supports resource appropriation
Urban Politics:
Workers migrate to urban industries
1. Increased incomes
2. Increased consumption
3. increased exposure to pollution
Spotlight on Mexico City—Non-Point
Politics
1. Growth + Consumption = Toxic trouble
Mexico City: People plus Cars
Growth
1. Political Economy
i. Political economy: jobs = legitimacy
ii. Political power linked to resource
control
iii. Patronage structures (Party and
Profit)
2. Cities reinforce political control
1940's-1970 Consolidation
Import Substitution
Urbanization
1970's-Present: ISI breakdown
decentralization of power with
increasing urbanization?
= more problems/ less power
Concentrated urban population
heavily affected by pollution:
Growth is major problem
Urban growth rates Phenomenal
1955-2 million
1975-8 million
1996-19 million
Growth continues at
.5 to .75 million per annum
2001??? ~21-23 Million
Cars
1. Auto sales key industrial sector
Auto sales key to legitimacy
Roads and Gas
Puebla-Toluca (Mexico): Altiplano
industrialization = strategic alliance of
Elite workers, capital, and federal
power
Unintended Consequences:
1. lack of transport results in high
population concentration
2. water treatment often lacking
3. lack of regulation/information
increases population exposure
4. Poor nutrition aggravates contaminant
impacts, esp. biological
2. Topographical problems: Mexico City—
development in a bowl
What causes/What effects?
Non-Point Source Air Contamination at
High Altitude
1. Cars Contaminate
i. Volatile Organic Compounds + UV =
O3 (ozone)
ii. CO
iii. Pb
2. Atmospheric Inversions
i. Mountains
ii. Climate Winter drought/Low wind
iii. Inversion layers, cool air over warm
Water-soaked subsoil in lakebed:
i. former lake
ii. toxic organics; heavy metals
iii. Urban-Rural Conflict
Factories versus Fields
Chinampas and 'Black water')
Local sewage infrastructure insufficient
1. Treatment of industrial discharge
2. Lack of sanitation (sewers)
3. Lack of separation between
industrial/domestic sewage
Environmental health solutions
i. Less cars?
ii. Better emission controls?
iii. More expensive gas?
Environmental crisis becomes political
crisis: government leaders are unable to
attack environmental problems without
Addressing Both
Consumption (Water, Autos)
Immigration to the city (Centralization
in the economy)
Political centralization = power
Political centralization = massive
immigration
How to address this crisis?
1. connections – working against the
networks that allow laws to be
broken
2. Mobilizations: Super Barrio