Social and economic imbalances in the metropolitan area of Monterrey

Transcription

1 Social and economic imbalances in the metropolitan area of Monterrey MONTERREY Gustavo Garza SUMMARY: The paper describes social and economic differences between Monterrey s eight municipalities, including housing conditions and basic service provision, and how these changed between 1970 and It also describes the social and economic differences for 1990 between the 710 microareas into which Monterrey was divided, which allows a more precise and detailed picture of intraurban inequalities. It also reveals the limitations of an intraurban analysis based on municipal boundaries by showing many clusters of microareas with very low levels of socioeconomic development in some of the better off municipalities. Dr. Garza is based at the Center for Demographic and Urban Studies at El Colegio de Mexico. He has published many books and papers on urban issues in Mexico and was one of the advisors to UNCHS (Habitat) in the preparation of An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 1996, Oxford University Press, This paper is one of a number of studies of city inequality supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It was translated from Spanish by Tina Delia. Address: El Colegio de Mexico, Camino al Ajusco no. 20, Mexico DF 01000, MEXICO; fax: (52) ; ggarza@colmex.mx The author also acknowledges with gratitude the support of the Research Project on MexicanUSACanadian Relations, I. BACKGROUND THE CITY OF Monterrey, capital of the Mexican State of Nuevo León, was founded in 1596 and is located in northeast Mexico, 200 kilometres from the border with Texas in the United States. When Mexico won the war of independence against Spain in 1821, Monterrey had a population of 11,044. This figure rose to 35,356 in 1880 when the city s industrial development began. During the first half of the twentieth century, Monterrey s population grew from 62,000 in 1900 to 354,000 in 1950, the year during which the metropolitan area began to form, expanding from the central municipality of Monterrey to the municipalities of Guadalupe and San Nicolás de los Garza. In 1995, the Monterrey Metropolitan Area was composed of eight municipalities with a total population of 3.0 million inhabitants, placing it in 87th position among the 100 most populated cities in the world. II. THE STUDY THE PURPOSE OF this paper is to describe social and economic differences within Monterrey at two levels: first at the municipal level, through examining the differences between the eight municipalities that make up metropolitan Monterrey; and Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

2 at EL Colegio de Mexico for the study entitled "Urban Policies in Great Metropolis: Detroit, Monterrey and Toronto" of which this paper forms a part. 1. There are in fact 796 urban basic geostatistical areas in the eight municipalities. However, for 86 of these areas, information on housing is insufficient as nonresidential land has been used. The 710 basic geostatistical areas considered are distributed as follows by municipality: 34 in Apodaca; 48 in San Pedro Garza García; 32 in General Escobedo; 132 in Guadalupe; eight in Juárez; 311 in Monterrey; 106 in San Nicolás de los Garza; and 39 in Santa Catarina. Basic geostatistical areas have an average population of 3,000, and an area of 2550 hectares (in Juárez, the average population per basic geostatistical area is 1,300 persons and in San Nicolás, this figure is almost 4,000). 2. In 1990, five minimum wage units equalled Mex $1,618 per month, the equivalent of US$ 550. second at the microspatial level, through examining the differences between the 710 basic geostatistical areas into which the municipalities are subdivided. (1) The six variables used to reflect social and economic differences (and more broadly the population s standard of living) include income, level of education and type of housing. These are expressed as percentages of: the economically active population with incomes higher than five minimum wage units (salarios mínimos) (2) ; the population aged 12 and over not educated beyond primary level; housing units having one bedroom; housing units equipped with inside running water; housing units with drainage connected to the street system; housing units with a permanent roof. The analysis of the social and economic differences between the eight municipalities was applied to 1970, 1980 and For the microspatial analysis, this could only be applied to 1990, as this is the first year for which the territorial breakdown into basic geostatistical areas is available. Socioeconomic categories were determined using factors obtained from the wellknown factorial statistical analysis technique. III. UNEVEN PROGRESS AMONG THE MUNICIPALITIES, CITIES IN AFRICA, Asia and Latin America are sometimes classified in different categories according to the relative level of development they have attained, taking due account of their major internal urban and socioeconomic imbalances. In Mexico, during the period of rapid economic growth between 1960 and 1980, the quality of urban development in cities improved to such an extent that it produced areas comparable in quality to the best sections found in large cities of Europe and North America. In the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico s third largest city in demographic terms, there was a significant improvement in the standard of living during the period For instance, with regard to education, in 1970, 77.8 per cent of the population was not educated beyond primary level. There were significant differences within the metropolis in this year, and the extremes were found in the municipalities of Garza García and Juarez where 67.9 per cent and 96.2 per of the population, respectively, were not educated beyond primary level. In the decade of economic expansion between 1970 and 1980, the metropolitan population without postprimary education was reduced to 57.4 per cent with the extremes still found in Garza García and Juarez with 45.9 per cent and 80.4 per cent, respectively. The economic crisis during the 1980s did not prevent the population of Monterrey from improving its level of education, as the number of persons not educated beyond primary 32 Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996

3 level declined to 38.4 per cent, providing the city with a more skilled work force. Table 1: Metropolitan Area of Monterrey: Socioeconomic Variables by Municipality for 1970, 1980 and 1990 (in per cent) Municipalities and years Without education beyond primary level a Income exceeding five daily minimum wage units b Housing One Permanent Running Drainage bedroom c roof water 1970 Metropolitan area Apodaca San Pedro Garza Garciá General Escobedo Guadalupe Juárez Monterrey San Nicolás de los Garza Santa Catarina Metropolitan area Apodaca San Pedro Garza Garciá General Escobedo Guadalupe Juárez Monterrey San Nicolás de los Garza Santa Catarina Metropolitan area Apodaca San Pedro Garza Garciá General Escobedo Guadalupe Juárez Monterrey San Nicolás de los Garza Santa Catarina SOURCE: National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Science (INEGI), IX, X y XI Censo de Población y Vivienda (Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Population and Housing Census, 1980 and 1990), Nuevo León. a. Population aged 12 years and over without education beyond primary level (with the exception of 1990, when assessed for persons aged 15 and over due to changes in the census). b. The daily minimum wage unit (salario mínimo diario, or SMD) at current prices for the period was $27.50 in 1970, $150 in 1980 and $10, in In constant old pesos at 1980 prices, this amounted to $139 in 1970, $150 in 1980 and $84 in c. In 1970, as the result of insufficient data on housing units with one bedroom, the figure for housing units with one and two rooms was used. Table 1 gives various social and economic indicators for the whole metropolitan area and for each municipality for 1970, 1980 and This includes the percentage of people whose income exceeds five minimum wage units which, in 1970, was equivalent to US$1,700 per month. For that year, only 4 per cent of the metropolitan population earned incomes above this level, ranging from 15.9 per cent in Garza García to 0.7 per cent Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

4 3. In US dollar terms, however, the Mex $22,000 pesos per month equivalent of five minimum wage units was equal to US$960 as the result of the considerable devaluation of the peso. 4. The federal agencies that promote or support public housing are the Fondo de la Vivienda (FOVI) (Housing Fund) of the Bank of Mexico, the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (INFONAVIT) (Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers), and the Fondo de Vivienda del Instituto de Securidad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado (FOVISSSTE) (Housing Fund of the Institute of Social Services and Security for State Workers). The agencies of the State of Nuevo León responsible for the promotion of housing and, primarily, land tenure regulations, are Fomento Metropolitano de Monterrey (FOMERREY) (Metropolitan Development of Monterrey), Organismo Promotor de la Vivienda en Nuevo León (PROVILEON) (Organization to in Juárez. In 1980, 4.6 per cent of the population had an income exceeding five minimum wage units and this income was 8 per cent higher in real terms than in 1970, reflecting the economic expansion that occurred during the 1980s. (3) The monthly value in real terms of five minimum wage units in 1990 at constant 1980 prices was reduced to Mex $12,600. This reflects its level of deterioration and illustrates that, after a decade of crisis, 9.4 per cent of the population had incomes above this level. In Garza García, where middle and upperclass housing is prevalent, the level is 27 per cent whilst in Juárez, it is only 4 per cent (see Table 1). Basic living conditions improved during the 1970s, a decade of economic expansion, as well as during the crisis that characterized the 1980s. In 1970, 59.3 per cent of housing units within metropolitan Monterrey had only one bedroom, 50.7 per cent had a permanent roof, 68.6 per cent had running water and 62.8 per cent were connected to public drainage systems (see Table 1). These figures improved significantly during the 1970s and during the 1980s. By 1990, only 26.7 per cent of housing units had one bedroom and more than 80 per cent had a permanent roof, running water and drainage. In general, by this date, living conditions were unsatisfactory in only one out of every five homes. The improvement in housing standards during the period of crisis can be attributed primarily to the actions taken by the federal and state agencies responsible for providing lowcost housing. (4) The relative level of socioeconomic development in the eight metropolitan municipalities was computed by applying factorial statistical analysis to the six variables studied. This technique made it possible to compare the overall socioeconomic Map 1: Monterrey Metropolitan Area: Socioeconomic Classification by Municipality, 1970 Rankings High Moderate Low Very low Urban area SOURCE: Table Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996

5 Promote Housing in Nuevo León) and Programa Tierra Propia (Land Ownership Programme). 5. Processing of these data yielded only one factor to explain approximately 90 per cent of the total variance. 6. The very low category corresponds to negative factor values up to 0.50; low includes values between 0.49 and 0.20; moderate includes levels between 0.21 and 0.80; and high includes values over ranking of each municipality. Although these rankings are similar to the ones observed with each individual variable, there are discrepancies. The variables for income exceeding five minimum wage units and housing units with a permanent roof, running water and drainage are positively correlated with the socioeconomic level whilst they correlate negatively with the population having no postprimary education and housing units with one bedroom. On the whole, the higher the factor value the higher the socioeconomic level and viceversa. (5) The factor values were used to rank the municipalities into four levels of development: very low, low, moderate and high. (6) In 1970, the municipality of Garza García had the highest level of socioeconomic development in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, accompanied by San Nicolás de los Garza in the high level (see Map 1 and Table 2). These municipalities have attracted moderate and highincome populations since the 1960s. The moderate category includes only Monterrey. Although Monterrey ranks highest among the metropolitan municipalities in terms of demographic and economic importance, it lags behind Garza García and San Nicolás de los Garza because, historically, it has been the centre of an industrial city with large sectors of workers and people recently arrived from rural areas. Table 2: The Rankings of Municipalities in Metropolitan Monterrey by Social and Economic Indicators for 1970, 1980 and Municipality Factor Level a Factor Level a Factor Level a Apodaca 0.80 Very low 0.72 Very low 0.93 Very low San Pedro Garza Garciá 1.44 High 1.44 High 1.35 High General Escobedo 1.11 Very low 0.69 Very low 0.46 Low Guadalupe 0.08 Low 0.16 Low 0.37 Moderate Juárez 1.21 Very low 1.63 Very low 1.59 Very low Monterrey 0.75 Moderate 0.68 Moderate 0.31 Moderate San Nicolás de los Garza 1.00 High 0.88 High 1.14 High Santa Catarina 0.02 Low 0.12 Low 0.18 Low SOURCE: Factor estimates obtained by applying the factorial analysis technique to the data provided in Table 1. a. The high category corresponds to factor values greater than 0.81; moderate ; low ; and very low, less than Guadalupe and Santa Catarina are classified in the low development level category of municipalities. The former joined the metropolitan area during the 1960s and the latter during the 1970s. Both served as bedroom communities for workers. Finally, the municipalities classified as very low began their integration during the 1970s, although Apodaca and General Escobedo truly joined the metropolitan area during the 1980s, as did Juárez in the following decade. In 1970, all three areas were very sparsely populated and still maintained their rural physical characteristics, with a nascent metropolitan transformation (see Map 1 and Table 2). The period 1970 to 1980 were years of economic expansion Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

6 during which the gross domestic product (GDP) of Nuevo León (the state of which Monterrey is the capital and major city) grew by 6.6 per cent per annum in real terms. During this decade, Monterrey Metropolitan Area s population increased from 1.3 to 2.0 million, an annual rate of 4.6 per cent. It was also accompanied by a significant improvement in the population s standard of living. In 1980, however, the relative level of wellbeing among the municipalities remained the same as in 1970, with Garza García and San Nicolás classified in the high category, Monterrey in the moderate, Guadalupe and Santa Catarina in the low, and Apodaca, General Escobedo and Juárez in the very low category (see Map 2 and Table 2). Map 2: Monterrey Metropolitan Area: Socioeconomic Classification by Municipality, 1980 Rankings High Moderate Low Very low Urban area SOURCE: Table The annual growth rate in GDP for Nuevo León between 1980 and 1988 was only 1 per cent in real terms and amounted to 4.3 per cent between 1988 and It averaged 1.6 per cent for the decade. During the 1980s, there was a serious economic crisis which reduced the growth of Nuevo León s GDP to an average of 1.6 per cent per year. 7 During this decade, the population of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area grew at an annual rate of 2.5 per cent, almost half of the corresponding rate for the previous decade, reaching 2.6 million inhabitants by As a result of government actions and the survival tactics of those in the bluecollar categories, basic education and housing conditions continued to improve despite the decline in real wages and the increase in unemployment and underemployment. The level of relative wellbeing for the eight metropolitan municipalities in 1990 remained quite similar to the 1980 level, with the exception of General Escobedo, whose population increased from 38,000 to 98,000 between 1980 and Its ranking improved from very low to low while Guadalupe progressed from low to moderate (see Table 2 and Map 3). 36 Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996

7 Map 3: Monterrey Metropolitan Area: Socioeconomic Classification by Municipality, 1990 Rankings High Moderate Low Very low Urban area SOURCE: Table 2. The improvement in basic living conditions for the population in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area municipalities between 1970 and 1990 was spatially uneven. Using as a reference San Pedro Garza García, the most prosperous municipality, we note that the socioeconomic imbalances with respect to the other municipalities in terms of absolute distance from the factor value are higher for Juárez, Apodaca, Santa Catarina and Monterrey whilst they are lower for Escobedo, Guadalupe and San Nicolás de los Garza. Therefore, the spread of socioeconomic imbalances is broader for the central municipality and the recently incorporated peripheral ones, with the exception of General Escobedo, whilst it is narrower for the first municipalities to be incorporated into the metropolis. Where the eight Monterrey Metropolitan Area municipalities are concerned, the disparities among the levels of socioeconomic wellbeing varied little throughout the period as a whole. It was also found that the metropolitan spatial structure does not resemble geometric theoretical models but it is the result of urban expansion regulated by a real estate market that creates a spatial segmentation of the social classes. In any event, considering that the municipalities are extensive and socially heterogeneous, more precise units of spatial analysis would be required for a more precise determination of their socioeconomic characteristics. Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

8 IV. THE MICROZONE ANALYSIS FOR The factor value intervals for each category are as follows: more than 0.75: high ; : moderately high ; : moderate ; : low ; and less than 0.0: very low. AS NOTED EARLIER, the eight municipalities of metropolitan Monterrey are subdivided into 710 urban basic geostatistical areas. These constitute microzones which allow a more precise analysis of the structure of the urban space and the spread of urban development activities. With this set of units, factorial analysis was used to process the data corresponding to the six variables already considered at municipal level. The factor obtained was classified into five categories of socioeconomic wellbeing: high, moderately high, moderate, low and very low. (8) Map 4 shows the socioeconomic imbalances per basic geostatistical area, which was compiled with factor data comprising the six variables for the 710 basic geostatistical areas using the SPANS (Spatial Analysis) geographic information system. This analysis of socioeconomic differences provides almost 100 times more detail than the municipal analysis described in the previous section and as such represents a true xray image that can be used to identify the metropolitan socioeconomic pattern that has formed and continues to evolve over time (see Map 4). In very general terms, the central area of the municipality of Monterrey has a moderate socioeconomic standard. However, it has a very low segment to the north and south, which reflects its roots in industrial development, leading to the emergence of extensive bluecollar areas. With the economic affluence of the 1950s and 1960s, high level areas appeared to the southeast and northwest of the central nucleus. Later, the high areas expanded north to San Nicolás de los Garza and southwest to San Pedro Garza García (see Map 4). The most extensive bluecollar area extends from the centre of the municipality of Monterrey to its northern limits, then towards General Escobedo and Apodaca, continues eastward to Guadalupe and is beginning to expand to Juárez. The distribution of the five socioeconomic categories of basic geostatistical areas shows a highly polarized metropolitan structure: 45.9 per cent very low and 23.4 per cent high. By combining the very low and low categories as well as the moderate and moderately high levels, we note that the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, a representative city of a country at an intermediate stage of economic development, is characterized by 50 per cent of its population having a low standard of living, 25 per cent a moderate level and 25 per cent a high level. This general distribution varies significantly within each municipality depending on its location within the metropolitan scheme, when it was incorporated and the total urbanized surface area. First, if we consider the municipalities of Monterrey and Guadalupe, which are very close to the metropolitan average, we are surprised to note that more than 50 per cent of the basic geostatistical areas in Monterrey are at the very low level. Santa Catarina could be included in this group as the result of the level of its very low components, although it could be placed in the next level because of the lack of high components. The second pattern is composed of Apodaca, General 38 Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996

9 Map 4: Monterrey Metropolitan Area: Socioeconomic Levels by Basic Geostatistical Area, 1990 Rankings Data not available Very low Low Moderate Moderately high High Territorial breakdown by urban basic geostatistical area SOURCE: Factorial analysis applied to INEGI data. Nuevo León, Final results, data by urban basic geostatistical area, XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda, INEGI, Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

10 Escobedo and Juárez, which were recently incorporated into the metropolitan area and still have little urbanized area, with approximately 70 per cent of the population in the very low category and almost none ranked high. Third and last is a group of opulent municipalities San Pedro Garza García and San Nicolás de los Garza with 14.6 per cent and 21.7 per cent of the basic geostatistical areas classified as very low, significantly below the metropolitan average. Garza García is by far the most privileged area with 62.5 per cent in the high category (see Table 3). Table 3: The Distribution of Microspatial Areas according to Socioeconomic Category by Municipality, 1990 Municipality The distribution of microspatial units according to categories of socioeconomic wellbeing Very low Low Moderate Moderately high High Total Metropolitan area Apodaca San Pedro Garza Garciá General Escobedo Guadalupe Juárez Monterrey San Nicolás de los Garza Santa Catarina SOURCES: Our computations based on INEGI, XI Censo de Población y Vivienda, 1990, Nuevo León. Final results, data by basic geostatistical area. The specific intrametropolitan pattern of the social categories is determined by a series of geographic, economic, political and historical factors. In the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, this pattern has clear distinguishing features, as shown on Map 4. The predominance of basic geostatistical areas in the very low category clustered into clearly delimited areas is striking: the main area is composed of a rectangle north of the central commercial district, extending to the northwest and forming 40 Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996

11 9. At the southern end of the municipality of Monterrey, there is a group of basic geostatistical areas in the very low category. These areas are rural and are located outside the area where construction is permitted by the master plan for the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey. a Y that borders Cerro del Topo Chico and extends to General Escobedo; the second area forms a continuous section to the south of the central area on the opposite side of the Santa Catarina River; it extends from Avenida Lázaro Cárdenas to the Cerro de la Campana area; the third area comprises the entire central area of the municipality of Guadalupe which discontinuously combines with basic geostatistical areas classified as low and moderate, continuing north to Apodaca; the fourth area begins west of Garza García and continues to Santa Catarina. (9) The number of basic geostatistical areas in the high level form the second largest group which has a clearly defined spatial pattern: a large section includes almost all of the municipality of Garza García, extending west of Monterrey, bordering Cerro de las Mitras; the southern section of the urban area of the municipality of Monterrey whose axis is Avenida Eugenio Garza Sada with Colonia Contry as a centre and bordered by Cerro de la Silla; the third site includes a combination of the basic geostatistical areas of San Nicolás de los Garza on the border with Monterrey; the smallest area in the high category is northwest of Guadalupe on the border with Monterrey and San Nicolás (see Map 4). The remaining basic geostatistical areas are classified as low, moderate and moderately high and do not form clearly defined patterns. Instead, transition areas blur the borders between the high and very low categories, as can be seen north of Monterrey and west of Garza García. However, we note the mixture of very low, low and moderate categories in Guadalupe, as well as the section of moderate basic geostatistical areas in the central commercial district of Monterrey. The general conclusion is that the class structure of Mexican society is reflected in the organization of urban space in patterns historically defined by geographic, economic and social factors. The effects of these factors are influenced by the intervention of the government apparatus in the form of urban development regulations and the construction of infrastructure and facilities for community use. As long as the low levels of income and high levels of underemployment that characterize the bluecollar categories do not improve, it will not be possible to solve the urban problems. However, these problems might be reduced with the proper coordination of activities at different levels of government, until a better solution can be found to enable the process of economic development to move forward. Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October

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