The digitalization-as-urbanization in metropolitan Guadalajara, Mexico

Keywords: Digitalizing state – Information infrastructures – Metropolitan Guadalajara
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The making of urban development plans in the state of Jalisco dates back to the first half of the twentieth century when a regulatory plan for Guadalajara was developed.
The technologies implemented in plan-making have been changing over time. The state has attempted to digitalize and automate urbanization, from paper and manual processes to graphic outputs using computer-aided drawing software (AutoCAD) and, more recently, Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Yet, it is arguable that this process is a mere reproduction of the paper-based information infrastructures.
This article aims to produce empirically original evidence of digitalization-as-urbanization by describing the historical process and the main features used to make urban development plans, emphasizing digitalization's pros and cons, and focusing on the metropolitan peripheries.
Digitalization has evolved in line with technological development; however, these technological changes have not necessarily changed the plans' quality, the information structures, or how information is stored, circulated, and retrieved. Data has been traditionally kept in municipal offices under the supervision of gatekeepers, which usually preclude public access.
The paper concludes with a critical discussion on the digitalization of urban development in metropolitan Guadalajara, where the periphery remains the transitional space that does not offer the complete infrastructure and facilities assumed to be present in a city, leaving its inhabitants at a disadvantage compared to those settled in the central city.