Inequalities in Mexico City - Part 2

Inequalities in Mexico City - Part 2

Open Ended

Recall: What is the difference between urban and rural?

Urbanization

Today, Mexico City remains the center of Mexican life, but it is no longer the graceful city of old. In the past 50 years, urbanization, or city growth, has increased at a rapid rate.  In 1970, the city had more than 8 million people.  Ten years later, it had almost doubled in population.  There are now more than 21 million people in Mexico City’s metropolitan area, which includes the city and its suburbs.

Open Ended

Why might people decide to move from rural areas of Mexico to the more urban areas?

Multiple Choice

This migration is causing rural decline. Make an inference as to which definition best describes "rural decline."

• Worsening economic conditions in the countryside like unemployment

• Potential for better jobs in the rural areas

Rural Decline becomes Urban Migration

Juan's Story

Juan Ortiz's family lives in a small village in central Mexico, and like his father and grandfather before him, he is a farmer. He grows corn, beans, and other vegetables on a few acres of land that his family owns, but conditions have declined in the countryside.  Juan can no longer support his family by farming, and now he is forced to seek other work.  Like many farmers, Juan plans to leave his village and move to the city, making him a part of the large urban migration caused by rural decline in Mexico.

Farming Conditions

• 15% of the land in Mexico is suitable for farming

  
  

• Dry, rocky, or mountainous to grow crops

• A small number of wealthy landowners own most of the best farmland in Mexico.

Open Ended

What issues do you see with wealthy people owning most of the farmable land in Mexico?

Types of Farms in Mexico

• Small, privately-owned

• Ejido - farms on communal land owned by group of farmers

• Commercial farms - grow food to export

Multiple Choice

True or False: An ejido is owned by one person.

• True

• False

Can't Keep Up

Smaller farms have difficulty matching the products of the larger, commercial farms. They lack the money to buy seeds, fertilizer, and farm machinery, so many ultimately end up selling their land to go work for wages on larger farms.

Increasing

Poverty and Unemployment

Multiple Select

Which of the following might be pull factors drawing farmers to the city?

• Money

• Higher standard of living

• Traffic

• Education