Manufacturing Industry location and urban planning in Mexico. An intraurban spatial analysis.

Keywords: industrial location, urban planning, land use, clustering, dispersion
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Mexican cities have grown and developed, driven by the implementation of industrial policies directed toward serving both domestic and international markets. At the national and regional scale, industrial location theories have supported several studies aiming to explain the spatial distribution of such activities based on agglomeration effects, access to markets, and infrastructure. However, at the intraurban level, only some studies have explored the spatial logic behind the distribution of such activities.

This paper uses spatial statistics techniques to analyze the distribution of three of Mexico's most relevant manufacturing industrial sectors (food, electrical and electronics, and automotive and transportation). By concentrating on the clustering and dispersion of economic units dedicated to manufacturing activities within the aforementioned economic sectors, the present study aims to understand how the distribution of manufacturing industrial activity relates to the distribution of industrial land uses established by planning instruments.

The study focuses on Mexico City and Monterrey, two of the largest metropolitan area within the country. It also incorporates information on the distribution of economic units according to the Mexican Directory of Economic Units, Mexican census data, and geographic data on the distribution of assessed land values and normative land uses. Spatial Statistics will be deployed to understand spatial relationships between manufacturing industrial activity, urban land uses, and land values.

This ongoing research aims to expand upon these findings and serve as a basis for further analysis seeking to engage with a more localized experience of the effects associated with the location of manufacturing industries in Mexico.