Socioeconomic Segregation in Latin American Cities. A Geodemographic Application in Mexico City

Pablo MATEOS1,2, Adrián Guillermo AGUILAR3
1 University College London, Department of Geography, (UCL), London, UNITED KINGDOM
2 CIESAS Research Center, Guadalajara, MEXICO
3 National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Institute of Geography, Mexico City, MEXICO
E-mail: p.mateos@ucl.ac.uk, adrianguillermo1@gmail.com
Pages: 11-25

Abstract. Latin American cities register high levels of residential segregation by socio-economic group. A recent shift from polarized but compact cities to more dispersed and fragmented urban structures reflects a change in the geographic scale of segregation processes. This can be seen in new exclusionary urban forms at the neighbourhood level. Existing analyses of segregation fail to fully capture these new processes and to look beyond the simplistic affluent-poor duality to the complex multidimensional nature of socio-spatial differences. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by proposing a new methodology to classify very small neighbourhoods by multidimensional socio-economic groups and thus measure their level of residential segregation. The methodology uses geodemographic classification methods to cluster highly disaggregated data at city block level upon which segregation indices are then calculated. The analysis of Mexico City’s Metropolitan Area illustrates the validity of the approach and reveals new dispersed and fragmented patterns of segregation.

K e y w o r d s:  socioeconomic segregation, urban inequalities, clustering, geodemographics, Latin America cities