The capitalist production of space in the Metropolitan Area of Valley of Mexico, a conceptual approach

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual approach to the study of the urbanization process in the Metropolitan Area of Valley of Mexico (ZMVM), from the perspective of the social production of space and its capitalist appropriation. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of the problems derived from the expansion and metropolitan urbanization of Mexico City, among which the precarious living conditions of the population integrated to the metropolitan area stand out, as the expression of the contradictions inherent in the social production of space in capitalism.

For the research, a mixed methodology was used to combined classical theoretical sources with the empirical reference gathered in documentary sources and field observations; offers a historical perspective and an interdisciplinary effort. The main contribution of the article is to underline the contradictory nature of the metropolitan expansion process and the continued subordination of rural space to urban dynamics. It concludes by highlighting the possibility and need to strengthen forms of social production of space focused on the reproduction of life rather than the reproduction of capital.