Infrastructure and Housing
Latest Past Events
From the Top Down: The Governance of Urban Development in Mexico
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Room 208N 1 Devonshire Place, TorontoAlthough efforts were made to decentralize in Mexico during the late 20th century, federal and state-level policy has continued to supersede local governance. Local governments in Mexico have limited financial and institutional capacities and are seldom able to guide urban development and construction processes, for example. The result of this top down approach has sometimes […]
Housing Access & Urban Governance: Lessons from Mexico’s Recent Experience
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Room 208N 1 Devonshire Place, TorontoChanges to federal housing policy in Mexico in the 1990s helped finance the largest housing boom in the country’s history. During the 2000s, millions of Mexicans acquired mortgages to buy homes in the fringes of cities throughout the country. At the same time, decentralization efforts were under way to increase the capacity of local governments to, among other things, manage urban growth. Yet, even large municipalities have been ill equipped to provide adequate infrastructure and services to the new remote housing locations that have popped up in the last two decades. Furthermore, an increasing number of Mexican households have struggled to keep up with their mortgage payments with the result that some new developments have alarmingly high housing vacancy rates, all while about a third of Mexicans live in poor housing conditions.
Financing Infrastructure: Who Should Pay?
Editors Richard Bird and Enid Slack and chapter author Matti Siemiatycki discussed the key themes of IMFG’s new book, Financing Infrastructure: Who Should Pay?, followed by a reception and book signing. Politicians and citizens universally agree that Canada’s urban infrastructure urgently needs work. But few cities have room to raise additional revenue, and the federal and provincial […]