Urban growth model and its impacts in the quality of life in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

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Urban growth model and its impacts in the quality
of lifein Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

• Susana Perez Medina
• Research Centre and Advanced Studies

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Meridas growth ages
MERIDA DEMOGRAPHIC GROWTH AND URBAN EXPANSION
(1959-2000)  
Source 1950-1990, (BOLIO1991) 2000 (H. AYTO.,
2000).
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Causes of rapid urban and population growth

• Geographics No natural barriers to urbanization
• Economics Decline of the main agro-industrial
  production henequen (sisal)
• Reorientation of the investment in real state
  bussines and in commerce and services
• Governamental programmes for housing
  construction
• Political and economic regional
  centralization in Merida
• Recent insertion in the global network
  (industrialization and consumption)

• Demographics Migration

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Settlement model

• Urban Model growth

• In Merida highlight 2 Main aspects
• Real state development in the construction of
  masive houses
• Acute socioeconomic and urban segregation

Allocation of services Housing Transport environm
ent
Economics Social Political forces
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Real state development

• The real state
  
  developers does not leave
• public green areas, and public services at the
  city level

• Before 1970s caracteristic green areas in the
  back yards of the houses
• The back yards have a very important social,
  economical and environmental function
• Currently the massive construction of houses for
  low and middle incomes based in a very small
  lote, do not allow private green areas

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Socioeconomic and urban segregation

• Northern
• High incomes population
• Best level of infraestructure
• Intercomunicated roads
• Banks, supermarkets, franchises, etc.
• South
• Low incomes population
• Absent of formal commerce and services
• Low level of infraestructure
• Northeast and Northwest
• Transition between north and south

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Houshold income
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Commerce and services distribution in Merida
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Population Density
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Social and environmental impacts

• Lack of green areas in wide zones and lack of
  services in the neibourhood
• Have consecuencies
• Absent of enterteinment and social space
• Intensive daily flows
• social
• economic
• environment costs

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Increase in the temperature
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• Heat island, is called regularly to the whole
  city in relation to the rural area
• In Merida the heat island is created by zones of
  the city, where the density of construction
  without green areas and the increased of traffic
  have warmer the temperature and the wind
  behaviour. (hypothesis)

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Objective

• Given the climatological conditions in our city,
  we asses the invironment impacts (temperatures
  and wind behaviour) of the settlement model
• through comparative analysis of diferents
  zones of the city

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Methodology Variables

• Whith aerial photograhs we are going to map out
  the deferent units of land cover (houses, roads,
  services, etc)
• We will choose several zones with deferent
  characteristics, to locate a climate station
• Analysis of the links existing between urban land
  cover and temperature and wind

• Number, size and formal characteristics of green
  areas
• Energy consumption in order to cooling buildings
  and trafic
• The feutures of the main materials used

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Outcomes expecting

• The elaboration of several models of temperatures
  and wind behaviour related with land cover,
  considering that, the settlements are not
  isolated elements, but they are surrounded by
  built up area, as well as land, and they do not
  have the same size and intervals of green areas,
  they do not contein the same activity.