juarez deliverable 2 - final research
TRANSCRIPT
Global Urban Development Program: Juarez
Final Research
March 27, 2015
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1 Executive Summary
1.1 Global Urban Development Program: Juarez Project
The Global Urban Development Program brings together students from different universities around
the world to do data-driven research and holistic design to address urban development challenges.
This round, students from Stanford University in California, Ljubljana University in Slovenia and
Universidad Autónoma De Ciudad Juarez in Mexico have partnered to address urban challenges in
Juarez: endemic crime and violence, flooding and heat waves, unemployment, and social inequity.
Our goal in the research phase is to understand the context and details of these specific challenges
facing Juarez from an interdisciplinary level before we begin designing solutions in the next phase.
1.2 Overview of Ciudad Juarez
Cuidad Juarez is located in North of Mexico in Chihuahua, on the border of the United States of
America near El Paso, Texas (see figure)
Figure 1: Location of Juarez in state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Size: 72.6 square miles (188 km²) Population: 1,321,004
Ciudad Juarez political history can be summarized as having a long lasting relationship with PRI.
This relationship was affected by a sentiment of discomfort amongst local and regional
businessmen of all sizes who started to grow and gain power by the late 1980s. As a result, PAN
gained the support required to contend PRI for the coming decades. From the civic side, it could
be said that Juarez has had, in the last decades, a very unparticipative population. Compared to
national and state standards, the percentage of people who are qualified to vote and actually do so
is very low. As a result, while there is an antagonism towards the government, not much is done to
affect the outcomes. There is, however, a strong ongoing relationship between major
landowners/businessmen and the government, which has set to define the urban development
patterns of the city. In other words, the lack of civic participation, combined with the lobbying of
powerful businessmen, has resulted in an unplanned development that has been defined not by
systematic and logical planning, but by fulfillment of business, personal, and political interests of
local oligarchies throughout the city‘s history. This in turn is tied to the violence problems,
because although it is true that Juarez is one of the most desired strategic locations for drug cartel
operations (i.e. since it serves as the distribution channel to the world‘s largest drugs market, the
U.S.), it is also true that organized crime in the city has emerged as a result of: (1) a corrupted
social fabric, (2) a weak and unsustainable economic growth, (3) urban sprawl with deficient
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transportation infrastructure and overwhelming amount of empty lots, and (4) many other factors.
From these, 1 and 2 above are very tightly related to the presence of a Maquiladora industry in
Juarez. While it was presumed that basing the local economy in a manufacturing industry would
boost the economic growth of the city (and by numbers it did) in the long term it caused a
devastating effect to the economic base of the city, which in turn has demoralized the community.
1.3 Research Methodology
In order to best approach our study of the city, and with the help of our advisors, we decided upon
four key areas in which to focus our research: Urban Planning, Environment, Economy, and
Quality of Life. After initial research and further consultation with our faculty advisors, each team
in turn focused their research around three questions that they found central to providing a relevant
diagnosis of the city‘s issues. In our second phase of research, we identified a set of key metrics
from the investigative scope of each team that we thought could serve as indicators of the city‘s
success in coming years. We then overlaid the geospatial data for each of these metrics, targeted 4
key problem areas, and then charted the current status of each metric by area. Finally,
simultaneous to the investigating of metrics, we also selected a group of case studies, with similar
base conditions to Juárez that we found could be used as examples of policy and urban
development in Juarez‘s future.
1.4 Research Groups Division and Focus
1.4.1 Urban Planning Team
The Urban Planning Team focused on four key topics: the urban layout and development of
Juarez, transportation, urban policy, and public space. For the first topic, we contextualize the
urban issues by providing a brief history, and then hone into the key issue of the city‘s chaotic
growth and the political and planning issues behind it. In terms of transportation, we studied data
on commute times, distances and modes and asked whether the new municipal plan details any
solutions to the issues with these. For urban policy, we focused on understanding the role of the
IMIP and exploring the possibilities of public-private partnerships in urban solutions. Finally, our
study of public space analyzes the quality and accessibility of such spaces within the city, and
looks to see if the municipal plan focuses on improving these.
1.4.2 Environmental Risk Team
The focus is on investigating some of the main environmental issues in terms of causes, impacts,
policies and statistics. This investigation will help determine one or more environmental risks to
focus on for the second phase of the project. The environmental risks that were selected for this
investigation are industrial pollution, transportation pollution, air pollution, flood, and water
supply.
1.4.3 Economic Development Team
The Economic Development Team focused on three key points: the local industry, the informal
sector, unemployment. For the industry, we are working on answering the question of ―what
industries and companies should be generated or supported further to achieve a more diverse
development?‖ For informal sector, we are addressing the issue of how to account for those
enterprises, and how to create policies that are inclusive of them. For unemployment, we are
focusing on the creation of sustainable jobs that. Overall, these three are interconnected by an
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underlying mission: the creation of a more robust and less risky economic base that supports
investment to a more diverse mix of industries, facilitates access to credit, incorporates the
informal sector, and can be sustained over a long term.
1.4.4 Quality of Life Team
The Quality of Life Team explored the various aspects of the culture, economy, and environment
in Ciudad Juarez that contribute to the Quality of Life of locals. This involved a comprehensive
understanding of the security, economy, community, education, and health issues within the city.
As part of this evaluation we were able to find data showing that the Quality of Life within Ciudad
Juarez has much to be improved upon. Current circumstances prevent this from happening and
within the Quality of Life section, the team has outlined strategies that have integrated solutions
from across sectors for targeted areas within Ciudad Juarez and respective demographics.
1.4.5 Geospatial Analysis
In the previous sections four research areas are analyzed thoroughly to understand factors that
shape the city (urban planning, environmental risks, economic development, and quality of life).
Moving forward, these research areas are broken down to key indicators that evaluate quantitative
performance in the areas of housing, economy, environmental risks, security, education, health
and social welfare. These indicators are mapped using a geospatial methodology for identifying
critical areas to intervene. Through a geospatial analysis we can identify such critical areas as the
overlapping of multiple unhealthy indicators. Thus we can pinpoint the best areas to focus
intervention efforts, as well as understand the opportunities for nuclear development in the center
of the city and interconnected neighborhood centers.
Figure 2: Critical Areas, Index Compilation
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1.5 Case Studies
There are eleven case studies that can be found in section 7 of this report. The case studies main
goal is to help in gaining a better understanding of how to approach some of the issues that the
City of Juarez is going through according to the four research divisions. Therefore, the focus was
on comparison between Juarez and the city of the case study, issue and goal, approach and results,
and finally a conclusion of how the case studies could be related to Juarez.
Table 1: Summary of case studies
Case Study No. City Subject
1 El Paso, USA Economic Stability
2 London, UK Environmental Risk of Flooding
3 Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Environmental Risk and the Urban Poor
4 Mexico City, Mexico Environmental Risk of Air Pollution
5 Tijuana, Mexico Environmental Risk of Flooding
6 Water Supply
7 Palermo, Italy Organized Crime
8 Sao Paulo, Brazil Urban Slum Communities
9 Cape Town, South Africa Violence Prevention
10 Medellin, Colombia Social Urbanism
1.6 Target Metrics and Goals
As a culmination of the topical research, geospatial analysis, and case studies, the team presents a
vision of Juarez in 2020 in which all indicators of sustainable urbanism are considered in a holistic
and unified city model.
The primary obstacles to quality of life in Juarez, as determined through the research phase, are
poor urban and economic development. Due to a lack of checks and balances or transparency
within the municipal and state government for urban planning and administration within Juarez,
the city limits have been allowed to expand for individual interests at severe cost to the city‘s
infrastructural capacity and citizens‘ livelihood. As development spreads, the following services
also become spread too thin: infrastructure maintenance, utilities, sanitation, police, inspection,
public transportation, etc. We also see crime and violence increase in areas with dilapidated or
abandoned buildings and little to nor surveillance. With distance and inadequate public
transportation also comes overdependence on automobiles, creating longstanding impacts on
health and environmental pollution.
Juarez‘s location on the northernmost border of Chihuahua, let alone Mexico, means that
economic investment from the state government is considerably less than to cities closer to centers
of national activity. Yet its place as a border city renders it vulnerable to significant fluctuations in
economic development from the U.S. side. With the rise of the maquiladora industry in the 70s,
this seemed to provide a positive boost to Juarez‘s economy. Nearly fifty years after, however, this
industry has embedded an unsustainable demand for low-wage employment within the economy
that intensifies the degradation of quality of life we already witness from poor urban planning.
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It is clear that sweeping changes in policy, planning, and governance at the macro level are needed
to stave these obstacles to quality of life. We need densification of the urban center, elimination of
wasteful growth, safe and accessible public space, and economic diversification among other
changes. However, these changes cannot occur without the will, representation, and engagement
of citizens. If we believe this to be true, then the most important first step in urban change is civic
education where it is lacking. And without a central voice for civic education, it can only be
achieved through small, incremental, and personal experiences of opportunity and awareness. Our
approach emphasizes the importance of and opportunity for micro changes to lead and accelerate
political, economic, and social change and depends on a results-based accountability in our
diagnoses and planning decisions. With concrete metrics and goals throughout all sectors of the
urban environment, we can focus our efforts on interventions in critical areas with critical impact
on multiple aspects of quality of life and measure the effects of these interventions over time. Only
through such a data-driven model of urban intervention and dialogue can we move towards a
transparent, open, and accountable city planning and administration and a higher quality of life for
all Juarez citizens.
The following table presents about fifty metrics chosen by the team to represent a holistic model
of Juarez. The current data city-wide provides us with a quantitative diagnosis of how the city is
performing across various sectors including the natural and built environment, political, economic
and social structures, and citizen quality of life. Many of the metrics were mapped as part of the
geospatial analysis which allowed the team to identify four critical areas (A-D), each which has its
own recorded data for the metric.
In a subsequent deliverable, the team will create projections for 2020 in each of the metrics so as
to create a measurable and accountable set of target goals. From this we open up the possibility of
a portfolio of design and policy interventions which can incrementally work towards each target in
a disciplined and synergistic way. It also creates a forum for focused criticism and debate of
specific targets and priorities. This table is very much a work in progress but provides the
dashboard for the team to move into the design phase of the project.
Table 2: Target metrics and goals
Specific Metric Current
Total A B C D
Human Development Index (HDI) 0.696214 -
0.917404
-- -- -- --
Gini Index 0.43 - 0.5 -- -- -- --
Homicide [incidents/100,000
capita/year]
30 3.35 12.25 2.2 4.5
Insecurity [% citizens who think
primary problem is insecurity]
39.2% 38.3% 38.3% 39.0% 36.7%
Armed Robbery [incidents/100,000
capita/month]
4.54 -- -- -- --
Sexual Abuse [incidents/100,000
capita/year]
9.54 -- -- -- --
Trust in Law Enforcement [1
(worse)-5 (best) rating]
1.676 -- -- -- --
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Civic Engagement [% citizens who
are active members of a community
organization]
12.1% 11.5% 11.5% 11.5% 10.9%
Civic Education [% citizens that can
identify leaders in their community]
12.6% 11.8% 11.8% 11.8% 12.0%
Non-Governmental Activism [# of
NGOs]
282 20 21 13 24
Electoral Participation [% voter
turnout]
58.0% 56.8% 56.8% 56.8% 61.0%
Health Backwardness [%
population]
31.4% 22.2% 6.4% 6.4% 23.0%
Housing Backwardness by Quality
and Space [% population]
29.9% 14.4% 8.0% 14.7% 7.0%
Social Welfare [% with low and very
low social welfare]
24.1% 19.0% 19.9% 17.4% 7.9%
Educational Backwardness [%
population]
26.3% 6.0% 22.4% 39.9% 5.3%
Educational Backwardness [%
population under 15 years]
16% 6.30% -- 2.40% 7.20%
Educational Backwardness
[%population under 30 years]
30% 14.20% -- 5.50% 13.70%
Unducated Population [% adult
men]
46.90% -- -- -- --
Uneducated Population [% adult
women]
39.90% -- -- -- --
Basket Price [MXN $/month] $564.40 -- -- -- --
Household Income [MXN $/month] $9,191.60 $2,455 -
$4,382
$3,222 -
$5,543
$3,222 -
$4,382
$4,383 -
$6,704
Percentage of total trade coming
from small and micro enterprises [%
enterprises]
13% 2% 3% 9% 2%
Agricultural production boost in
Juarez Valley
20% -- -- -- 8%
Minimum Wage [MXN $/hr/worker] $70.10 -- -- -- --
GDP per Capita [US $] (El Paso is
$33,800)
$8,600 -- -- -- --
Job Opportunity [# of jobs / # of
people over 12 yo (942,952)]
39.70% -- -- -- --
Percentage of Occupied Commercial
Space
19% 5.97% 8.91% 2.13% 2.00%
Cost of flood damages (businesses,
government, calculated over 20 years
MXN $)
$40,807,26
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-- -- -- --
Qualitative flood damages (effect on
health)
13% -- -- -- --
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Volume of water use
[liters/capita/day]
300 -- -- -- --
Capacity of treatment plants
[liter/sec]
500 -- -- -- --
Number of people with water access 97% -- -- -- --
Average water use / Water efficiency
(water use in cubic m per capita)
23 -- -- -- --
Access to Water 91% -- -- -- --
Access to Sanitation 92% -- -- -- --
Access to Electricity 92% -- -- -- --
Green space [m2/capita] 4.6 -- -- -- --
Unoccupied Homes 116000 -- -- -- --
1.7 Next Steps
This deliverable marks the midpoint milestone of the GUDP Juarez Project and the conclusion of
the research phase. Following feedback from city partner and mentors on this report, the students
will then form four new interdisciplinary teams to tackle the four critical areas as determined by
the geospatial analysis and propose unique and innovative design projects which seek to create the
highest impact towards the target goals and metrics they set. These projects can range from master
planning at an urban scale to specific architectural and engineering solutions in specific locations
to economic and social programs and policies.
1.8 Team Members
1.8.1 Students
Gabriela Alcocer, age 21, currently study in 8 semester of
Architecture at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez.
León Felipe Durón Morales, age 21, currently studying 8 semester
studying architecture and working in the Office of Sustainable
Design Architecture Luis Sandoval . Interested also in research , I
participated in competitions CONACYT research and also , I have
worked with researchers UACJ teachers.
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Lilian Morenore, age 21, is a student at UACJ in eighth semester.
She currently works with the head officer of the Department of
Architecture at the Institute of Architecture Design And Art
(IADA). Currently she is part of the University council UACJ
representing the architecture students. In 2014 she worked in the
workshop Bioarquitectura UACJ. She is interested in the topic of
bioclimatic architecture.
Lizbeth J. Gaspar, age 22, fourth year undergraduate in architecture
in Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez. (UACJ)
Job Alejandro Garcia Acevedo, age 23, fourth year of architecture
student in Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez. Specializing in
map design and special facilities. Working in the UACJ
internationalization department.
Jennifer Jimenez Ortiz, 22 years old, is a student at UACJ in her
eighth semester. She currently works in the office of architecture of
IADA (1 1/2 year), conducted social service in the IMIP in 2013
(Instituto Municipal de Investigación y Planeación), and participated
as a college adviser in 2014, representing students of architecture.
Octavio Garcia Cardenas, age 32, Real estate agent of INFONAVIT
(Instituto dl Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores),
Currently student of architecture in Universidad Autónoma de
Ciudad Juárez
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Valeria Zorrilla. Age 28, graduated from Universidad Autonoma de
Ciudad Juarez in 2011 in Architecture. Currently studying the
Master in Planning and Urban Development
R. Nicté-Há Hernández. Age 28. graduated from Universidad
Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez in 2012 in Industrial Design. Currently
studying a Master Degree in Planning and Urban Development
Nicolle Richards, age 19, is a third year undergraduate in Public
Policy with a focus in social innovation. In 2013 she worked with a
nonprofit in San Lucas Sacatepequez, Guatemala to develop the
business model for a microbusiness program for survivors of sex
trafficking and sexual abuse and implemented the first three pilot
projects. She spent the fall interning at the U.S. Department of State
in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in
Washington DC and has additionally worked with local nonprofits
in India, Romania and the Dominican Republic.
Phil Salazar, age 20, is a junior in the Product Design program at
Stanford University. In 2014, he contributed to the development and
implementation of a community-level water chlorination system for
low-income communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He will be
returning to Dhaka in 2015 for a project on urban sanitation.
Sebastian Mancera, age 22, senior in Architectural Design at
Stanford.
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Nour Abi Samra, age 22, graduated from Loyola Marymount
University in 2014 with a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering. She is
currently pursuing a Master's degree in Sustainable Design and
Construction at Stanford University. In 2012, she served as the
outreach coordinator for LMU's Malingunde project, whereby she
helped build a water conveyance and filtration system in Malawi
Daniel Bejarano, age 24. Grew up in Cd. Juarez. Graduated from
The University of Texas at Austin in 2013 with a Bachelor's in Civil
Engineering. He‘s currently a National Science Foundation
Graduate Fellow, pursuing a Master's degree in Sustainable Design
and Construction Management at Stanford. He has also done
research on innovative transportation alternatives
Kate Gasparro, age 23, graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering
from Clemson University. She has bridged the fields of civil
engineering and public policy with published work on the use of
public private partnerships to address failing transportation
infrastructure. Additionally, Kate spent the past three years fostering
a collaborative relationship with a rural community in Nicaragua to
address water sanitation issues. She is currently a National Science
Foundation Graduate Fellow, pursuing a Masters in Sustainable
Design and Construction at Stanford.
Mala Amer Alahmadi, age 27, graduated from the University of
Kansas in 2014 with a BS in Civil Engineering with Environmental
Emphasis. Currently pursuing a M.S. in Environmental Fluid
Mechanics and Hydrology. Done some volunteering work through
Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and was the primary designer
for the second phase of a water project for a community near La
Paz, Bolivia. In this second phase a pipeline system was to be built
to provide drinkable water for the community (it was completed and
fully constructed on August 2014).
Filip Ružić, 20 years old, second year of urbanism at Faculty of
Architecture, University of Ljubljana
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Oskar Cafuta, age 20, second year of urbanism at Faculty of
Architecture, University of Ljubljana
Kristijan Lavtižar, age 21, second year of Urbanism at Faculty of
Architecture, University of Ljubljana
Marjan Gracar, age 20, second year of Urbanism at Faculty of
Architecture, Universtity of Ljubljana
Adriana Badía, age 23, graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in
Environmental Design from the University of Puerto Rico, currently
pursuing a Master‘s Degree in Architecture
1.8.2 Organizers
Derek Ouyang, age 22, graduated from Stanford University in 2013
with dual Bachelor‘s in Civil Engineering and Architectural Design,
and will return in the fall for a Master‘s in Structural Engineering. He
participated in the AEC Global Teamwork Project in 2011 and co-
created the Global Urban Development Program in 2012. He was
project manager of Stanford‘s first-ever entry to the U.S. DOE‘s 2013
Solar Decathlon and has been featured as an up-and-coming architect
in the Los Angeles Times, in Home Energy magazine‘s ―30 under
30‖, and at TEDxStanford.
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Sinan Mihelčič, age 31, graduated from Ljubljana University in
Architectural Design. He participated in the AEC Global Teamwork
Project in 2011 and co-created the Global Urban Development
Program in 2012, both exploring digital collaboration tools in urban
planning and architectural design. He established Skupina Štajn in
2008, an emerging young architectural studio in Kamnik, Slovenia.
He is a technical assistant in architectural and urban planning studios
at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, as well as a mentor to the
AEC class at Stanford.
Klemen Kušar, age 28, graduated from Ljubljana University in 2012
in Architectural design and in 2013 in Economics. In 2010 he was
exchange student at Aalborg University and attended a summer
workshop for the renewal of favela Dona Marta in Rio de Janeiro. He
participated in the Global Urban Development Program in 2012. In
2008 and 2010 he was awarded 1st and 2nd place in the Isover Multi-
Comfort House Design, and in 2012 was awarded the University of
Ljubljana Prešeren Prize for his master‘s thesis about public
participation in the process of gentrification of urban sprawl. He is
author of several articles regarding this matter.
1.8.3 Faculty Advisors
John Barton is the Director of the Architectural Design Program at
Stanford University.
Glenn Katz is an instructor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department at Stanford University.
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Andreja Cirman, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of
Money and Finance at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of
Economics (FELU) in Slovenia. For six years she had served as
associate dean for academic affairs at FELU and since 2011 she
serves as FELU MBA program director. Her main fields of expertise
in research and teaching are housing, real estate and public finance.
1.8.4 Mentors
Mikko Tuovinen, age 28, graduated from the UEF with M.Sc
(―Master of EU law‖) degree. He is passionate about EU, energy,
climate and competition policies, and he is a substitute Member of
the Municipal Council of Liperi (Finland) and a substitute Member
of the Technical Committee of Liperi. Mikko has held also other
positions of trust and chaired many associations, primarily in
Finland, and currently he is doing an internship at the Court of
Justice of the European Union. His role in GUDP is to help with
anything related to public relations (e.g. communication between
GUDP, the public and the decision makers).
Rob Best, age 26, is a Ph.D candidate in Sustainable Design and
Construction program of the Civil and Environmental Engineering
department at Stanford University. His research focuses on network
planning, integration, and optimization of urban infrastructure
systems. He has a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College
and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford.
Rob is also the Projects and Education Director for Engineers for a
Sustainable World, a U.S. based non-profit that advances project-
based learning and knowledge-sharing on sustainability and
engineering nationwide. In 2010-2011, as a Thomas J. Watson
Fellow, Rob researched the socioeconomic and political conditions
that foster eco-city development worldwide. He also has experience
as a consultant modeling the energy consumption of buildings and
urban developments and evaluating the long-term impacts of
pollution and hazardous industries.
Dimitris Farmakis, age 29, graduated from Stanford University in
2012 with an M.S. degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering
(previous degrees in Business and Operations Research). He
participated with the Stanford team and took the 1st place in the 24th
Annual ASC Construction Management competition. At Stanford he
was the head Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Building Information
Modeling (BIM) courses and also he founded the ―Sustainable
Development Studio‖ class. Passionate about BIM and green
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architecture, after Stanford he founded his startup in Greece offering
BIM consulting services and participated as a speaker in Design,
Green Building and TEDx conferences in Greece. He occasionally
teaches remotely at Stanford‘s BIM courses as a guest instructor,
and works in parallel with a Silicon Valley startup on developing the
world‘s first BIM based automated construction scheduler.
Rebecca Díaz-Atienza, age 27, graduated from the University of
Puerto Rico with a Master‘s in Architecture in 2011 and a
Bachelor‘s in Environmental Design in 2009. With a strong interest
in rehabilitation and preservation projects, she obtained a Certificate
on Preservation Studies in 2011 from the UPR and a Certificate for
Patrimonial Studies in 2010 from the city of Bastia, Corsica. Later,
she participated in the AEC Global Teamwork Project with Stanford
University in 2011. Rebecca has been working since 2011 in the
design and construction industry in Puerto Rico through Oficios
MA, a design-build firm where as a junior architect she has worked
on all stages from schematic design to construction administration.
Additionally, Rebecca has worked as a collaborator for i am satos™
Journal, an effort to create a global platform for local empowerment
and as a design collaborator for Cloud Arch Studio. Rebecca is also
the owner and founder of ‗ñam-ñam‘.
1.8.5 Partners
Miguelangel earned his Bachelor‘s degree of Business
Entrepreneurship at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. He is
cofounder of the consulting firm Humanizarte as well as the political
activism organization Nosotros los Ciudadanos. Additionally,
Miguelangel works for several non-profits in Ciudad Juarez, most
dealing with programs geared towards improving the economic
competitiveness of the city as well as the improvement of the life
quality of its inhabitants.
Graciela Aguirre was born in City Juarez and graduated from UACJ
as an Attorney at Law with strong social activism and project
management. Her core strengths are contract evaluation, legal
consulting, organizational structure design, and civil court litigation.
She holds a certificate in citizen involvement and social cohesion.
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Salvador Barragan is a specialist in urban design, planning and
urban development. Currently he is working with the Municipal
Institute of Research and Planning in Ciudad Juarez, with
responsibility for the development of several sustainable urban
development plans for the municipality of Juárez, including the
Downtown Master Plan of Ciudad Juarez and their first set of
projects besides various activities of municipal and regional
planning.
Alejandra Corona is the Urban Strategies Chief at Desarrollo
Urbano. The department is in charge of reviewing the Plans and
Strategies for the mobility of the city. It is the connection between
the Direction of Transit, IMIP and the State Public Transport. Its
purpose is to configure a more efficient public transport system, to
endow the city with a total access infrastructure and to avoid the
invasion of the roads section. The base projects are the Ciclovia
Recreativa Juarez, The Mobility Security Committee, review for the
Plan for Cycling Routes for the City of Juarez and Connections with
the BRT, review for the Plan for Heavy Transport Routes, between
others.
Nathali Torres is the Architectural Projects Chief at Desarrollo
Urbano. The department is in charge of reviewing the architectural
projects for the city and coordinating the projects for public
buildings. It‘s in charge of the demolition for abandoned properties
and it is insures to improve the urban image of the city. It helps
develop urban image strategies. Between their most significant
projects are the public parks and recreational spaces.
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2 Urban Planning
2.1 Urban Expansion vs. Densification
2.1.1 Overview and Background Research
Our investigation of the urban planning history and policy of Juárez is a necessary step in
contextualizing any findings put forward by our project. We first look into the history of
development plans in the city, and the changes made over the past decades. We then outline the
key factors and players in the urban development process in Juárez, and finally analyze the role of
the IMIP and the benefits it has created and setbacks it has faced. We have made sure to base any
subsequent analysis on issues identified in primary documents such as the latest Municipal Plan
and the organizational documents of the IMIP.
2.1.2 Key Findings
When planning was institutionalized at the federal level in 1965, municipalities were forced to
formalize their initiatives for territorial planning. In Juárez, the Secretaria de Asentamientos
Humanos y Obras Publicas (SAHOP), in conjunction with the state government and city hall,
published the Plan Director de Desarrollo Urbano de Ciudad Juárez in 1979. The main objectives
of the Plan were to put an end to illegal urban growth, optimize land use, and focus on
accommodating one million inhabitants.1
In 1983, article 115 of the constitution was reformed to give municipalities the responsibility of
providing basic services to the population and giving them control over land appropriation. At this
point, the federal government would no longer intervene in planning processes and the local
administration would become a key element in the planning of Juárez. This new localized power
attracted new contenders to elected titles at the municipal level, given that power over local policy
meant the possibility to impose private interests in urban growth.2 A key example of such a change
was in 1989, during the administration of Jaime Bermúdez Cuarón, when an updated municipal
plan was introduced to offer maquiladoras ideal conditions for their development.
In 2003, with the help of the 8-year-old IMIP, the PAN member Jesús Alfredo Delgado Muñoz
introduced a new plan that divided the city into six zones and subsequent subzones. This plan
utilized several of the new IMIP participative planning techniques. Finally, the latest plan update
was the Plan de Desarrollo Urbano de 2010, introduced during the Ferriz administration that had
claims to have as main objectives the establishment of foundations for the improvement of the
quality of life of the city‘s inhabitants, the rational growth of the city, the maintenance of existing
infrastructure, and the preservation of the environment.3
Now, one of the key issues in Juárez is the determination of the future of the city‘s growth, namely
whether it will expand outwards or densify into the existing space. Before analyzing the issue, we
need to illustrate the land ownership and development context in Juárez. Secondly, because this
debate is highly politicized, an outline of PRI vs. PAN interactions at the municipal political level
is necessary for context.
1 Garcia, 2011
2 García 2011, Santiago 2013
3 IMIP, 2011
18
Unlike in the United States, in Mexico there are few loans and financial services focused directly
to the real estate market.4 As such, the land and real estate market is mostly dominated by
individuals or investor groups whose main economic interests lie elsewhere and who have enough
capital to fully back real estate investments. One of the main attractors of capital into the real
estate market has been the parks of maquiladoras, which occupy large tracts of land and are
generally developed on the edge of the city (and often times later engulfed). This undeveloped
land at the city‘s edge is most appealing for these investors who are not specialized in real estate
because, even if the city does not extend into the direction of their lots, this land will generally
retain its value.
In order to sway these planning decisions, investor groups must sway the political party in turn.
From 1979 to 1999, the local governments both PRI and PAN have changed the urban plan for the
city four times, each ―changing the geographic direction of urban expansion towards areas of
recent land purchases by partisan groups in Ciudad Juárez.‖5 In other words, political pressure
almost exclusively pushes for a constant expansion of the city. This governmental backing of
expansion, in contrast with well administered cities around the world, does not protect investment
and private property in the city center. As recently built real estate increases, prices of established
real estate location lowers, and this creates uncertainty in the real estate market that does not affect
the small but power groups of investors in outskirt land (78,777 acres of Juárez region land is
owned by four families)6, but the non-speculative owners of parcels already developed.
7
One attempt to mitigate the political volatility of urban planning in Juárez was the creation of the
IMIP in 1995. As described in its own organization manual, it is a public institution with
autonomy in the decisions it makes and consultant to the government in terms of planning.8 It also
conducts studies and compiles geophysical information available to the public. The key aspect to
note from their missions statement, though, is that a clear point is made that its proposals are non-
binding to the municipal government, and that all of its proposals must receive final approval from
the municipal government.9 Llera notes that this is one of the central differences between the
planning process in Juárez versus El Paso. In El Paso, any urban proposal put forward by the
mayor must be approved by a series of technical and citizen boards, whereas in Juárez the mayor
has full prerogative.10
In other words, the IMIP can be considered a technical board and policy
institute with no way to procedurally ensure that its proposals are given due consideration and no
vote in making the final decision.
This clear handicap has led to several criticisms of the IMIPs that have sprouted all around
municipalities in Mexico. Sergio Peña, in his paper Recent Trends and Practice in Spatial
Planning in Mexico, notes that most plans put forward by the IMIPs around Mexico are rarely
taken into consideration, but believes that the technical data they produce is valuable in producing
4 Llera, Who Governs, 104
5 Ibid, 106
6 Llera, Who governs, 113
7 Llera, Mercado inmobiliario, 92
8 IMIP, 28
9 Ibid.
10 Llera, Who governs, 110
19
a ―planning doctrine‖ for the municipality.11
He claims that the reasons IMIPs have become
attractive to municipalities is that the target three issues that these governments consistently face:
1) the acquisition of knowledge and expertise through technical-administrative
innovations to deliver services in a more efficient and effective way
2) the challenge of making urban centers more competitive to be able to ―hinge‖ the
global economy
3) the search for new planning paradigms that will replace the traditional patronage-
cronyism regime 12
This unfeasibly large scope of issues is a burden on the actual usefulness of the IMIP, and Peña
claims that it should focus on its role as a technical agency that provides information useful to the
creation of a clearer framework for urban planning for the city.13
This idea of having a clear urban
planning framework is specifically addressed by Llera in his analysis of the real estate market and
urban administration in Juárez. He highlights the fact that Mexican urban planning practices
generally focus on architectural and urbanistic perspectives, and often lack a financial and
administrative perspective. The State Law on Urban Development itself refers twice to the idea of
―urban administration,‖ but never defines the concept, which he claims suggests a governmental
ignorance of what ―urban administration‖ is, beyond the architectural and urbanistic.14
Furthermore, he not only recommends the clarification of the term ―urban administration,‖ but
also emphasizes that continued overlooking of the financial and administrative sides of urban
planning by permitting further expansion will continue to hinder the governmental responsibility
of protecting the value of citizen-owned private property in the center of the city.15
2.1.3 Conclusions
As we have seen, the urban expansion of Juárez is largely a political issue where large private
stakeholders and their influence on local politics have no counterweight in the form of technical
and citizen boards. The concentrated land ownership of the outskirts of Juárez implies a small
number of wealthy investors who can easily coordinate political influence, whereas the denser and
smaller property and ownership in urbanized areas implies a large number of non-speculative
owners whose voice and interests are much more complicated to organize. Therefore, due to the
clearer possibility of large and quick gains, and the influence granted by concentrated wealth, the
speculative outskirt owners have a considerably larger voice in swaying political decisions. And
because urban policy in Juárez is ultimately a political decision, expansion is the most likely path
for the city to take.
The IMIP has the potential to even the balance if it can be turned into a voting body. At the
moment, it serves a series of functions that could potentially be divided. For example, its
administrative and archival functions of providing city plans receive no benefit from the autonomy
of the institution, so these could ostensibly be moved to the Municipality. With such a move, the
scope of its mission narrows down investigation and advisory functions. An interesting route to
11
Peña, 439 12
Peña, 425 13
Peña, 439 14
Llera, Mercado inmobiliario, 82 15
Ibid, 93
20
analyze would be if it would be feasible to add veto/voting power to its scope, thus giving the
results of its investigations and proposals true influence over the future of urban development in
Juárez.
2.2 Transportation
2.2.1 Overview and Background
In this section we describe the general situation of the urban transport, considering the traditional
public transport, the massive BRT system and the private transport. We also review the evolution
of public policies that lead to the situation in matter of public transport in Juarez.
2.2.2 Key Findings
Urban mobility and public transport have always been the discussion breakpoint to Juarez City
along time, there have always been private interests and therefore the urban transport has enriched
a few and the rest of the citizens have been relegated.
As a borderland, Juarez City presents a series of complex situations, where elements like Industry,
migration, cultural diversity, topography and weather, combine and as a result you get a dispersed
city in the need of transport and efficient mobility conditions in order to promote the urban
development.
Mobility is fundamental to the urban development, in Mexico, mobility and public transport didn‘t
have the relevancy until the past few decades. Public policies in matter of urban transport before
the 90‘s had given priority to private transport, only the biggest cities in the country as the capital,
D.F. Monterrey and Guadalajara, had their own institutions and specific actions in order to attend
the public massive transport.16
During the 90‘s decade there was an evolution of public policies, based on the search of solutions
through studies, capacitation on the subject and process of technology transfer. Alongside, the first
studies relative to planning of roads, urban transport and the restructure of the public transport. In
1993 the Law of road, bridges and federal transport (Ley de caminos, puentes y autotransporte
federal) was promulgated and also the first Institutes of Planning and Investigation were created
(Institutos municipales de Investigacion). In June 1999 the Article 115 of the constitution is
changed, giving faculties to the municipalities to intervene in the formulation and application of
public transport programs that is how many of the massive systems started their process on
different cities in Mexico. 17
Mobility and public transport are factors that directly intervene in the structure socio-spatial.
Public transport has been identified as a key factor in the urban processes, because promotes the
interchange and rises the habitability standards through market accessibility, employment, health
and education. 18
The approach to the traditional transport subject in Juarez must be seen from two
perspectives, the urban context and the particular management, mainly because the urban context
has delimited the way the routes circulate through the city, leaving some blank spaces; but also
because of the transport management, because there is no a certain instance or institution who
16
Palafox, 2006 17
Ibid 18
Lucas, 2011
21
regulates the public transport, in this matter intervene the public and private institutions and as a
result we get a diversified range of options.
It is important to understand the urban context of Juarez City, with a population of more than a
million approximately. The Industrialization and the process of the Maquiladora in the 60‘s, the
city grew very fast and was found in the need of mobility solutions. There was a deficit of
infrastructure, in the pavement roads, the vehicle fleet and the quality of the transport system in
general.
People need to move, in Juarez, as a borderland, the constant binational movement helped in this
matter, still nowadays it is relatively easier and cheaper to buy a car in El Paso, Texas and then
import it to Mexico, this has been a constant where numerous public programs have intervened to
regulate the cars. This situation helped to increased the number of private cars and therefore traffic
and contamination increased as well. The expansion on the city also reflects in this matter, because
people didn‘t see as a problem to get a house in the outskirts of the city, as long as they had their
own way of transport. If the public transport is deficient you‘ve got to find a way to move in the
city, so people turn their attention to other options.
The particular management of the public transport directly affect the way the public transport
develops, in this matter is important to talk about the ―Ruteras‖ (commonly known name for the
busses of the public transport in Juarez) which are considered deficient and unsafe, even though
they were the only way to move in the city apart from the private transport and the private
institutions who manage them. There are two different types of ―Ruteras‖ in Juarez, those of the
public transport and the ones of the Personnel transport, these are the ones who move the workers
from their homes to their works and vice versa on a daily basis. Their sole purpose is this, they are
not allowed to function as a traditional ―rutera‖ they are not allowed to charge and they only work
for the company who hire them, commonly the maquiladora.
On the contrary to the public transport, this way it‘s considered safer and cleaner, especially
because of the way it is managed, the drivers must follow certain rules and provide a good service,
if you see a bus doing something wrong you can call a phone number and report the number of the
unit. But most importantly there isn‘t a fight about getting passengers, because the drivers already
receive a salary, on the contrary to the public transport where drivers receive a salary accordingly
to the quantity of passengers they got in the daily route.19
The problem of the public transport in Juarez includes social, political and economic dimensions,
because there is a lack of coordination and demarcation of responsibilities between the
government, private institutions and the regulation of the public transport.
Traditional Transport
Current model of development in the city of Juarez rests mainly on car use, which is becoming a
big problem due to the process of territorial expansion that this city has had in the last 15 years.
Sociocultural model if citizens consists of possessing a car since possession of one or more
vehicles generates social and economic status. Also there is no efficient public transport system
that could bring an equivalent alternative to the private ways of traveling. Due to territorial
expansion of the city we acknowledge a formation of suburbs especially in the south and south-
east parts of the city, which increases levels of mobility.
19
Lara, 2005
22
There was a survey made by IMIP in 2006 that gave the following results:
- The average number of people per household is 3.19.
- The average number of cars per household in the region is 1.46.
- Over four million trips per day are made in the city
- By 1996, there was 25% of people using public transport, 51% private vehicle, and the
remaining 24% used non-motorized vehicle
- In 2001, only 21% of citizens used public transportation, 61% private car and the
remaining 18% used non-motorized vehicle to move
- In 2006, 50% used vehicle transport, 22% public transport and 28% non- motorized means
of transport
The survey also showed that less than 1% of the population uses bikes as their way of travelling.
On the other hand most walking trips are relatively short crossing of 0.01 to 1 kilometer trip.
Households without cars generate a trip and a half less per day than those with an automobile
which confirms our statement about people‘s dependence on private vehicle.
Pedestrians
They are most vulnerable of all those involved in the urban mobility, their place on the road
doesn't reach basic standards. Current road hierarchy does not include a separate place intended
just for pedestrians, where other means of transportation take second, which means we are facing a
lack of sidewalks and footpaths. And even sidewalks that are available for pedestrians to use face
a new problem. As part of the recent invasion in the city sidewalks are being used as an extension
to the owner‘s property for parking or other activities. The last challenge for pedestrian to face is a
lack of traffic lights for them, which can be seen only in the city centre and some parts of primary
roads. 20
Signs and traffic control
We separate between vertical (road signs, traffic lights...) and horizontal (signs drawn on the
paved streets) signaling
Basic principles for a functional road signaling are following:
Visibility
Readability
Simplicity
Homogeneity
In the city there is approximately 70% of the vertical signals which are in a good condition. Lack
of signaling occurs particularly on secondary roadways which generates confusion and uncertainty
for users of public roads, particularly those unfamiliar with the city or parts of the city they are
currently at. Horizontal signaling is in worse condition than vertical; 90% of the paint is in fair to
poor condition.
Pavement
Currently there are more than 5000km of the streets and avenues of which 37% of them are
unpaved, other 67% are in fair to poor condition. The lack of paving has among slower traffic an
20
http://www.imip.org.mx/pdu/PDUSEPT2010.pdf
23
impact on the air we breathe with PM10 particles. A significant number of colonies with unpaved
streets are in virtual isolation. Conditions are aggravated in the rainy season.
Parking
Deficiency of a definite and systematized program that analyses the supply and demands of
parking spaces leads to non-compliance with minimum requirements.
Road Hierarchy
A road hierarchy differentiates between roads by function. Transportation system must be
reimagined from an unscrupulous conventional auto-only perspective towards providing people
with many travel choices. This requires a change in priorities from moving as much traffic as
quickly as possible at the expense of other modes and adjacent land uses to provide choices,
balance, and connections between driving, transit, walking, and bicycling.
A rapidly-expanding freeway network supplements an even larger network of wide high-speed
four- and six-lane arterial streets. Arterial and even collector roads are designed almost exclusively
for driving, with minimal, unsafe, or non-existent walking, bicycling, or transit facilities. A less
rigid system should in theory enable faster and easier accommodation for non-motorized methods
of transportation.
Higher speeds encouraged by the street hierarchy increase the severity of accidents occurring
along arterial roads. Most walking trips in Juarez are relatively short from 0.01 to 1 kilometre per
trip but make for 28% of all trips made. To improve walkability is to hinder a free flowing system
to the extent to which places are compact, mixed-use, inviting, and safe for pedestrians, cyclists,
and transit users. Walkable communities are created by a number of factors, one being a fine-
grained network of connected streets, narrow streets; streets with managed speeds, broader safe
sidewalks and on-street parking. Vehicular speed also plays a critical role in the walkability of an
area due to its relationship with pedestrian fatalities. In a crash with a vehicle traveling greater
than 50km/h, a pedestrian‘s odds of dying are better than 50%, increasing to 85% for a vehicle
traveling 60km/h.21
Existing road structure divides into three subsystems
The first is aimed at regional mobility, and is intended as a peripheral urban scheme controlled
access highways and the city. Two high speed vials (central) and two side vials with »half« speed
(lateral). The second is aimed at the internal accessibility, and is offered as a network for public
transport backbone of high capacity, linear corridors for a human scale environment. The third
subsystem consists of the primary and secondary road network, in a multimodal hierarchically
connected powering of first two subsystems.22
21
http://planelpaso.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/ELP%204%20Transportation_for%20web.pdf 22
http://planelpaso.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/ELP%204%20Transportation_for%20web.pdf
24
Table 2: Road Structure23
Primary roads (arterial, for
joining significant centres and
providing inter-regional
traffic flow)
Trunk road primary
Conventional primary
Complementary primary
Secondary roads (collector) Two-way traffic, preferential for cyclist
Local roads (direct access for
residential blocks) Signal vial body with one lane in which direction
Collective transport network Preliminary sizing of Service
Equipment on trunk routes- elements that facilitate
access and connectivity with other means of
transportation (parking for cyclists and auto-users)
Equipment on feeder routes
Red riders
The rider in Ciudad Juárez may use any lane road traffic,
with exception of the central body of the viaducts
(controlled access roads) and low mass lanes of transport Special provisions for main
corridors Parking for cyclists and motorists along trunk corridors
Freight Inner communication and communication across the
border with El Paso
23
http://www.imip.org.mx/pdu/PDUSEPT2010.pdf
Figure 1: Juarez UTM:
25
Appropriate mix of primary road corridors should contribute to a more effective and optimized
public transport. Ideally roads connect into roads at the same level in the road hierarchy which
promotes network efficiency by ensuring each road performs the function for which it is designed,
that intersections perform efficiently and that speeds are separated and managed to minimize
conflict.
Commute times, distances, and modes
Current state of the transport system provides us rather unreliable way of movement, which affects
heavily on commute times which are connected to other socioeconomic factors. The biggest
problem is irrational car use which is understandable due to the lack of alternative transport
system that would attract city travellers. 24
Due to the expansion of the city (growth of the population and territorial expansion) there are
more cars on the streets every day. The formation of new suburbs which is directly connected to
the physical expansion creates greater distances between home and work. Lack of different
transport modes means that citizens are basically forced to travel by car. Consequently number of
car users is increasing even faster.
There are a number of other factors which heavily affect commute. Poor street conditions slow
down the traffic and also damage the vehicles. Lack of signalling creates a confusing environment
and slows down the traffic flow in the busiest intersections and creates traffic jams in areas where
the traffic could exist without jams. 3
Traffic jams created by all of those factors previously mentioned create so called exterior expenses
which usually stay unpaved. It is difficult to define who is responsible for them. Usually the main
cause is the fact that the roads capacity is exceeded. So in a way it‘s the municipality the one who
should provide suitable road infrastructure, different modes of transportation and restrict usage.
The increased number of vehicles have a huge effect on the environment with air and noise
pollution. This affects living and working conditions in the build up areas of the city and indirectly
on property values.
BRT System “ViveBus”
The Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) is relatively simple and originated as an alternative to the
railed systems, in Curitiba, Brazil in 1974, since then, Curitiba, has become an example for
transport planning about what it must and mustn‘t be done.
The basic performance is based on the combination of confined lanes exclusively used by the
buses alongside stations, that allows the quick and easy transportation of passengers. The systems
also incorporates signs and sometimes adequations need to be done, like ramps or overpasses. The
system adapt itself to the city, in size, form and sophistication, but in general terms, the cost of
construction and maintenance are advantageous, because it allows to have a massive transport
without the formality of a railed system, the keypoint is the flexibility, these systems can adapt to
the roads, streets and avenues easily while the railed systems are inflexible after being built.
Nevertheless, it must be considered as well, that the lane will take a space from private transit.
In Mexico, the first BRT systems were in Leon (2004), Distrito Federal (2005) and Guadalajara
(2009). In Juarez City, the process starts in 2001 with the administration of Jose Reyes Ferriz, the
24
Juarez UTM, E-104, October 2010
26
proposal is made although there was no support at that time, even though some stations were built
and buses bought, causing a large economic loss of money for the city.
Figure 2: Stations built in the first part of the process, these are located in the Zaragoza Blvd. they were in bad conditions and they
cost a large amount of money and never used for 10 years
With the political system in Mexico, and the change of
political parties the proposal stayed paused and until 2010
with the second administration of Hector Murguia, that is
completed and started operations the 30th of November in
2013
The first route is established in the streets Francisco Villa,
Eje Vial Juan Gabriel and Zaragoza boulevard. It starts in
the center of the city next to the city hall and ends in the
Tierra Nueva colony. It is named ViveBus and it has a
length of 20 km of confined lane and 5 km in the sense of
traditional transport. The route has 34 stations in the
confined lane, and 12 stops in the traditional way, and
crosses the city north-south and east west.
There is also a second route, but this one is not installed yet,
it is in the proposal stage. It will be in the 16 de Septiembre
and Paseo Triunfo de la República Avenues. The route also
starts in the center of the city and crosses the city west east.
The traffic impact study and the first analysis starts on
Magnesio St. and 16 de Septiembre and goes till Plan de
Ayala and Triunfo de la República Ave. The plan is to
extend the route in the Paseo Triunfo de la República Ave.
until you get to the airport at the south of the city.
Figure 3: Navigation map of the stations of the
BRT in Juarez
27
2.2.3 Conclusions
We found a lack of elements in the whole transport mobility system that need special attention for
the needs of the citizens, but we also understand that the city itself more than just a well-designed
plan. Here our specific conclusions:
Roads and connections
Appropriate mix of primary road corridors should contribute to a more effective and optimized
public transport. Ideally roads connect into roads at the same level in the road hierarchy which
promotes network efficiency by ensuring each road performs the function for which it is designed,
that intersections perform efficiently and that speeds are separated and managed to minimize
conflict.
What points of the new municipal plan target transportation issues?
Municipals plan includes following improvements:
Figure 4: General map where the first route (the one currently functioning) and the second route (the
proposed one) are shown
28
- Organized public transportation
- Re-building of the existing infrastructure, controlled expansion
- Improvement of road signals
- Greater roads with more lanes and separated areas for pedestrians, cyclists etc.
BRT system
Although the system itself has proven to be a very effective tool for the urban development, it has
an issue with crowding. It is also important to highlight the lack of the feeder routes, because with
more the system could increase its service and increase its impact. And although the system is
placed in an area of low income and high rates of insecurity, the system could help improve these
areas by extending the service radius with such feeder routes.
2.3 Public-Private Partnerships
2.3.1 Overview and Background
Mexico‘s National Infrastructure Fund, Fonadin (Fondo Nacional de Infraestructura) is Mexico‘s
main agency responsible for the development of the national infrastructure via Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs). It focuses on water and transportation infrastructure, mainly highways, public
transportation facilities, ports, and airports.
From the private sector‘s perspective, Mexico‘s large-scale economy and population size,
industrious and skillful workforce, close economic connection with the United States, and
abundance of natural resources has made it a prime market for private financiers to invest in. On
the governmental side, project financing through PPPs is an established and preferred tool for
infrastructure development in Mexico.
For that reason, we believe that it is important to study the viability and prospect of taking
advantage of Public Private Partnerships through Fonadin in Ciudad Juarez.
2.3.2 Key Findings
Juarez’s Candidacy: Prime Location for Private Investment
Thanks to the 1994 NAFTA agreement liberalizing trade between the United States and Mexico,
the bordering cities of Juarez and El Paso have merged to become a 2.7-million metropolitan area
with the largest bilingual and bi-national workforce. This has created a huge amount of potential
for developing the economies on both sides. However, the existence of the border has complicated
the maintenance of the public infrastructure between the two cities, splitting the responsibility
among the local and national authorities of the two countries. There is a plus side to the bi-national
nature of the area. Being a border city which serves both the Mexican and U.S. economies, Juarez
has the ability to attract investments from both nations.
Transportation: Focus Area for Public Private Partnerships
PROTRAM, Mexico‘s Federal Urban Mass Transportation program is Fonadin‘s channel for
financing PPP projects which develop the country‘s urban transportation. Cities that have taken
advantage to successfully develop their urban transportation infrastructure through this program
include Tijuana, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Chihuahua, Mexicali, Monterrey, Chimalhuacán and
Pantitlán.
29
The success of Public Private Partnerships in the implementation of transportation infrastructure
projects is directly tied to the fact that this sector interests and benefits both the public and private
sectors. This is the case all over the country, but is particularly true along the Mexico-United
States border. Specifically for the city of Juarez and its across-the-border neighbor El Paso,
congestion along the connecting bridge has brought problems and challenges for both, businesses
and governments.
According to the Texas Transportation Institute, private business, on both sides of the border, are
affected by congestion in the following ways:
Higher risk of inventory and production failures
Product degradation
Greater job site expenses
Lower levels of worker productivity
Traffic congestion at the border leads to public sector challenges as well due to:
Lower air quality caused by increased vehicle emissions
More frequent bridge maintenance caused by an accelerating degradation
Congestion on regional roadways at peak crossing times
Topical Case Study: Project 21
Public Private Partnership efforts have already been attemped in the Juarez-El Paso region to
address congestion. In 2012, the City of El Paso and Secure Origins, Inc. came together to launch
a pilot program for the use of a technology-based tracking system, expediting border crossing for
commercial vehicles. The results determined that the average crossing time of the monitored
vehicles decreased from 76 to 22 minutes on average, and this benefited the private and public
sectors in alleviating the effects of congestion described above.
It is important to note that although the incentives for the City of El Paso and of Secure Origins,
Inc. are fundamentally different, collaboration between the public and private sector resources
through ―Project 21″ empowered them to develop creative and practical solutions for the problems
that each entity faces individually. Similarly, bringing private financing to the development of
Juarez may be a great way to vitalize its economy without compromising public funds. ―If
planned and executed well, the end result of a public private partnership project is the creation of
self-sustaining entity that performs its function and offers its services in a competitive
marketplace, thereby eradicating the need for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.‖
Bridging Economies: Possibility of US-Mexican Cost-Sharing
El Paso and Juarez‘s economies are highly interdependent. Paul Stresow, El Paso‘s director of
international bridges claims that ―for every maquila in Juarez, one to four jobs are created in El
Paso.‖ For that reason, cost-sharing arrangements for infrastructure development near the border
have prospered.
The North American Development Bank (NADB) funds projects along the border to improve air
quality which is mainly affected by congestion. NADB lent Ciudad Juarez $30 million for its
ongoing urban mobility plan, and may contribute to future improvement of linkages to El Paso.
Being a borderline institution, NADB works with both the U.S. federal government, and the
Mexican government, which allows private concessionaires.
30
―El Paso is a suburb of Ciudad Juarez, but decisions are mostly made on the other [U.S.] side.‖
Infrastructure financing at the United States border was typically provided by the government.
However, ―a recent U.S. law allows for public-private partnerships and cost-sharing for staffing at
ports of entry because of fiscal constraints at the federal level‖. This has brought opportunity for
private investment from the U.S. side of the border as well, which is expected to grow in the
future.
2.3.3 Conclusions
As both cities of El Paso and Juarez embark on improving their transit network through BRT and
Plan de Movilidad Urbana, improving downtown linkages across the border through Public
Private Partnerships could be a great avenue to consider for the urban development of Juarez.
31
3 Environmental Risk
3.1 Abstract
Natural hazards in Ciudad Juárez comprise of biological and hidrometeorologicos incidents, while
anthropogenic risks include the architectural physicochemical and technological incidents,
organizational socio, economic and social studies and urban.
In this section three main environmental risks are addressed. These environmental risks are
industrial pollution, floods, and water supply. The significance of these risks, as well as some case
studies, data, policies, projects, and recommendations for each environmental risks are discussed
in the following sections.
These environmental risks has been presented more frequently in the last decade, so it is important
to analyze the response of the authorities, population, and the laws and regulations currently in
force in Ciudad Juárez, as it is very important for prevention, response and mitigation of
environmental risks in the city.
Civil protection is the agency warns about any contingency that may arise in our city, to avoid any
risk you need to have an awareness of prevention and be aware of any notice issued by the
authorities, namely to follow the recommendations made to us that are nothing more than to avoid
human losses due to natural phenomena. Similarly, it is also very important to know our
environment to identify high-risk areas in our city and avoid these areas and keep us safe and out
of danger.
Ciudad Juarez contamination is present at the level of industrialization. Meanwhile, it is difficult
to address the issue of pollution because the maquiladora industry in Ciudad Juarez is the main
source of employment.
Because of this, there have been various prevention strategies against pollution that the industry
generates. In prevention programs are involved various strategies of action to prevent, reduce and /
or eliminate pollution from generation sources. In turn, the reduction of pollution includes three
aspects; volume reduction, toxicity and / or both.
3.2 Industrial Pollution
Air pollution is a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air. Car emissions, chemicals from
factories, dust, pollen and mold spores may be suspended as particles. Ozone, a gas, is a major
part of air pollution in cities. When ozone forms air pollution, it's also called smog. Therefore, air
pollution imposes a huge risk in modern world.
Ciudad Juarez is city on USA and Mexico border with 1.5mil. inhabitants.The biggest problems in
Juarez are criminal,high rate od violence,corruption and pollution.
According to data from the Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean,
Spain and Portugal Ciudad Juárez currently facing the biggest problem of environmental pollution
in its history. It is not until a few months it takes importance in the wake of NAFTA, as has been
formalizing an agreement called the Program for Environmental Integration Border (PIAF), with
32
which it is intended to make the governments of Mexico and United States accountable for
environmental control in the border area.
3.2.1 Sources of Air Pollution
The main sources of air pollution in Juarez are traffic,brick kilns and iron foundries. Paso del
Norte region has experienced very rapid population and industrial growth. So, the cities are
struggling to deal with many social problems -- including very serious air pollution. Juarez
exceeds the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (U.S. NAAQS) for ozone, particulate
matter and carbon monoxide.
Maquiladoras have serious consequences for human health, including respiratory disease and
premature mortality, but they are not leading cause od air pollution Ciudad Juarez. Industry,
including the brick kilns, accounts for only 17% of total sulfur dioxide emissions, and less than
1% of total particulate emissions. Services account for 44% of the sulfur dioxide emissions, and
transport a further 38%. Most particulates came from unpaved roads (65% of the total) and from
wind-blown soil erosion (31%). Almost all the carbon monoxide (99%) and nitrogen oxide (92%)
added to the air came from transportation. The biggest industry air pollutant are brick kilns, which
is in Juarez about 350. I think the most important pollutant is PM10 (Particle pollution (also
known as "particulate matter") in the air includes a mixture of solids and liquid droplets. Some
particles are emitted directly; others are formed in the atmosphere when other pollutants react.
Particles come in a wide range of sizes. Those less than 10 micrometers in diameter (PM10) are so
small that they can get into the lungs, potentially causing serious health problems).The bulk of the
chemical plant`s PM10 emissions came from the use of flourspor, the principal material used in the
manufacture of hydroflouric acid. It is using for froduction of bricks. The principal source od PM10
from traditional brick making is combustion od fuels used ti fire the kiln. There are controlled and
uncontrolled emissions. For maquiladoras, the health damages from uncontrolled emissions are
considerably higher than for controlled emissions (17 times for iron,50 time for chemical plant).
Concentrations of all pollutants, except coarse PM, were higher in high traffic zones than in the
respective low traffic zones. Black carbon and NO(2) appear to be better traffic indicators than fine PM.
Figure 5: A typical maquiladora
33
3.2.2 Data and Policies
Table 3: Annul health damages due to estimated PM10 emissions from iron foundry maquiladora (mean value of predicted number
of cases)
Table 4: Annual health damages estimate PM10 emissions from brick kilns (mean value of predicted number of cases)
For these reasons, USA and Mexico established Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) for the
improvement of air quality in the Ciudad Juarez.
According to the National Institute of Ecology (Mexico), will develop strategies for prevention,
mitigation and control of natural disasters in Cd. Juarez, Chih.
Likewise, there is Clean Industry Program. Voluntary initiatives of companies and producer
organizations to improve their environmental performance beyond the provisions of the
regulations, are a very efficient vehicle for environmental management. That's why the Federal
Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) since 1992 has been promoting the
implementation of the National Environmental Audit Program. Through auditing processes and
production facilities are analyzed, compliance with environmental regulations, international
standards and best practices applicable operating and engineering are evaluated in order to define
34
preventive, corrective measures and, where applicable, response necessary to protect the
environment, referred to them within a plan of action.
Through the issuance of a Clean Industry Certificate, has been stimulated significant investments
in improving the environmental performance of private and public enterprises. Furthermore, in
order to ensure access to information in this area is made available to the public and the industry
itself, the basic diagnostic and preventive and corrective actions to be developed as a result of
environmental audits. In Ciudad Juarez, the October 20, 1997, 11 companies from a total of 12 in
the State, received certificate of clean industry. To date, two more companies already met with the
entire plan of action and are about to receive their certification.
The health effects of industrial pollution
To assess the relationship of ≤10 µm particles (PM10) and atmospheric ozone concentrations, with
the daily number of emergency visits due to asthma and acute respiratory diseases, among children
aged under 15, living in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Material and methods. Atmospheric
data were obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from eight monitoring
stations located in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and El Paso, Texas. From July 1997 to December
1998, data from emergency room visits for respiratory illness were abstracted from existing
medical records of two Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) hospitals in Ciudad Juarez.
Diagnoses were classified into two groups: a) asthma, and b) upper respiratory infections (URI),
according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9 and/or IDC-10). Statistical
analysis was carried out using the Poisson regression time series method. Results. During the
study period, the mean 24-hour PM10 level was 34.46 µg/m3 (SD=17.99) and the mean ozone
level was 51.60 ppb (SD=20.70). The model shows that an increase of 20 µg/m3 in the mean 24-
hour exposure to PM10 was related to an increase of 4.97% (95% CI 0.97-9.13) in emergency
visits for asthma, with a 5-day lag, as well as to an increase of 9% (95% CI 1.8-16.8) when a
cumulative 5-day exposure was considered. URI increased 2.95% as a cause of emergency room
visits, for each 20 µg/m3 increase in the mean 24-hour exposure to PM10. The impact of PM10 on
emergency visits for asthma was greater on days with ozone ambient levels exceeded 49 ppb
(median value). Conclusions. A positive association as found between environmental PM10 and
ozone concentrations and the daily number of emergency room visits due to asthma and acute
respiratory diseases, even with levels lower than the Mexican standard levels. Also, a synergic
effect between PM10 and O3 was found.
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, is one of the cities of the Mexican Republic as part of the border with
the United States of America (USA), which is known as Paso del Norte region. This area has
climatic and geographical conditions for which, if not taken timely control measures in the future
serious air pollution problems are generated. Ciudad Juarez has a semiarid climate and is
surrounded by major mountain chains that prevent the free flow of air. Like other communities of
the same border area, this city has experienced rapid population growth and a significant increase
in economic activity over recent decades; Besides this, we have developed a number of industrial
and commercial activities and services. These conditions have led to a degradation of air quality,
especially for the use of vehicles in poor condition, as well as the growth in vehicle, amounting to
366,739 vehicles, which are the main source of pollution in the city. According to reports from the
35
General Directorate of Finance of the Government of the State of Chihuahua, in 1997, 88% of
pollutants emitted into the atmosphere come from vehicles traveling in Ciudad Juárez.
In the autumn and winter, given the geographical conditions of the city, hot air forms a layer on
cold air masses loaded with contaminants, keeping them at the level of the surface of the earth and
preventing disperse, what causing an inversion phenomenon which also increases the problems of
pollution in the city.
Previous epidemiological studies made in Mexico and other countries have analyzed the effects of
air pollution, and have found associations between acute effects of respiratory disease in the
general population exposure to air pollutants. Some studies used indirect measures of effects, such
as truancy, or demand for hospital services or emergency. Additionally, environmental and
meteorological (wind speed and direction, relative humidity and temperature) conditions
considered as potential confounders in the analysis are measured.
Most of the studies on associations between exposure to air pollutants and the number of visits for
respiratory diseases have been made in places with high concentrations of pollution. In Mexico
City there have been some studies on the methodology of time series; However, weather
conditions are very different from Ciudad Juárez, since there have been contamination levels up to
378 mg / m3 of particles less than or equal to 10 microns in diameter (PM10) and 404 parts per
billion (ppb) ozone (03), over the standard which most of the year. However, the few studies that
have been conducted elsewhere in the world with low levels of contaminants found a positive
association.
The aim of this study was to analyze, using the methodology of time series, the daily variation of
emergency room visits for acute respiratory diseases (asthma and upper respiratory diseases) of
two hospitals in concentration of second level Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS ),
compared to the daily variation in levels of air pollution in Ciudad Juárez, with the hypothesis that
there is a positive association between them.25
3.2.3 Discussion and Conclusion
Environmental pollution by toxic waste from Ciudad Juarez maquiladora industry is dangerously
high. A report by the US-based Coalition Projusticia in the Maquiladoras (made up of 50
environmental protection organizations, religious, community and labor), 85% of the levels of
pollution, where discharges of toxic chemicals are included in the sewer systems, waterways and
chemical waste in landfills that are recorded in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez is generated by
transnational corporations.
25
Leticia Hernández-Cadena, M. en C.,(1) Martha Ma. Téllez-Rojo, Mat., M. en C.,(1) Luz Helena Sanín-Aguirre, M.
en C., Dr. en C.,(1,2) Marina Lacasaña-Navarro, M. en C., Dr. en C.,(1) Armando Campos, M. en C.,(3) Isabelle
Romieu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D.(3,4)
(1) Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Morelos, México. Becaria del
Centro de Control y Prevención de Enfermedades/Organización Panamericana de la Salud, Atlanta (GA), EUA.
(2) Facultad de Enfermería y Nutrición, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México.
(3) Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Chihuahua, México.
(4) Organización Panamericana de la Salud/Centro de Control y Prevención de Enfermedades, Atlanta (GA), EUA.
This article was taken from the official website of Public Health of Mexico.
36
However, although this is one of the main problems of environmental pollution, little is being
done to prevent further. Perhaps because their effects are not as visible as other sources of
pollution and lack of information, the public is not aware of the serious problem posed by toxic
waste.
This misinformation comes to such a degree that they know maquila workers who handle toxic
materials daily and, therefore, the effects thereof.
The issue of toxic waste in 1988 was already on the table for discussion between Mexico and the
United States, reaching an agreement that wastes proviniesen of transnational corporations would
be returned to their country of origin. However, most companies ignore such agreement, and in
practice there is no control.
According to René Franco, the most common toxic waste produced by the maquiladora industry
are: waste paints and varnishes, resins, epoxies, lubricants, latex, fiberglass, chrome and various
residual solvents. These make up 95% of the general waste.
SEDUE is the agency responsible for ensuring that the regulations on the handling of toxic waste
in Ciudad Juarez are met and who should control the handling given to toxic chemicals by the
industry.
Although this practice is quite relative, SEDUE closed since only 24 hours sweatshops that violate
regulations. This state agency is often very permissive and has gone so far as to freeze the review
and punishment of 25 companies, which November 1990 to April 1991, generated toxic waste
without respect the environmental provisions.
Previously, maquiladoras report yielded an estimate pollutant emissions to the environment, but
today is a mandatory provision. Where, in addition, specialized equipment and personnel must be
accurately measured emissions. However, only those that exceed 50% of the maximum allowable
emissions are forced to buy equipment for measurement and control.
It added that the Municipal Ecological Law and Border Environmental Plan set aside concerning
toxic and nuclear waste dumps. In addition, the Municipal Ecology Committee has made no
activity to improve the control of toxic waste from the maquiladora and know what the effects of
these on the environment and population are.
Another arrangement for controlling the management of industrial waste is called "Nature Trail".
With it is intended that the waste is transported by a route that passes near industrial parks to
prevent accidents and affect the population.
They have designed several programs against pollution, one of them is the support of the national
bank to 319 industrial enterprises for the purchase of equipment for measuring emissions to the
environment. With This program will benefit Chihuahua 11 companies, including Three of Ciudad
Juarez are counted. A company (Olimpia Industrial) and American consortium Ametech Inc.,
conducted a joint venture to export to US toxic waste generated by local maquiladoras. Around
20,000 annual waste drums (3 handle 200 tonnes) and to date no one knows exactly what
implications will bring the plant.
37
Facing the problems of habitat and environment, the first point that our country must be resolved
is that of democracy, as while the public has no real and permanent participation in the urban
planning, defining priorities to drive, legislation, and monitoring of effective measures for the
improvement and habitat conservation, the lines to follow remain encouraging industrial
development for the benefit of some minority groups National and foreign, to the detriment of
social development, and harmonious.
A more specific and stringent legislation regulating problems such as toxic wastes, besides its
effective implementation. In addition, the involvement of social organizations in struggles habitat
improvement, going beyond the scope of services and considering alternative proposals to reduce
the ecological risks, requiring the actual operation of agencies and units involved.
So, we concluded that the biggest polluters are traffic (also unpaved roads),maquiladoras and brick
kilns.
Decision that seem logical for maquiladoras and brick kilns is improvement of the production
proces. This can be achieved using modern equipment and technology for maquiladoras. This
would reduce the negative environmental impacts. The problem with brick kilns is that still all
products on hand so it cause bigger air pollution. Improvement od this process would reduce the
negative environmental impacts. Reducing of traffic pollution can be achieved by paving roads
and reducing transportation in the area of Juarez.
For these reasons, in 1996 USA and Mexico established Joint Advisory Committee(JAC) for the
improvement od air quality in the Ciudad Juarez. The most important thing is that today air quality
is measurably better than it was before 15 or 20 years but it`s still under average.
38
3.3 Flood
The goal of addressing the flood risk here is to help understanding the issue in order to determine
solutions to mitigate flood and increase the resilience of Juarez city to flooding. In order to do that
a better understanding of the issue has to be established through an intensive data collection of
flood history, zones, frequencies, and policies in addition to investigating the economical, health
and social risks caused by flood. Also, it is essential to keep records of flood events, raise
awareness, keep records of weather data, and applying insurance programs.
Many economic damages were caused by flood, such as closing of businesses, schools, and public
agencies for at least a few days, and damages to infrastructures, and residential areas. In addition
to that there are health risks in terms of injuries and deaths. One of the recent flood events was
caused by Hurricane Odile on September 2014, where 6 schools got evacuated, three overpasses
were flooded, one person found dead, Santa Elena dam overflowed, four old houses collapsed, and
political unrest followed the event. There are many flooding events with different damages but all
share the same cause which is heavy rainfall and the same substantial impacts on health, economy,
and society.26
3.3.1 Source of Flood
Flood in Juarez city is mainly caused by surface water flooding due to the large impermeable
surfaces. Such flooding usually occurs during or following an intense rainfall event where runoff
does not infiltrate into the ground or enter a proper drainage system. It has been occurring more
frequently in the recent years.27
3.3.2 Data and Policies
Background Partial Plan The Ojitos
Thursday July 6, 15:00. Light rains were presented in the city as in the rest of the state of
Chihuahua, began to fall storm rain caused havoc in 10 colonies affecting a whole infrastructure of
15 homes, 500 with minor damages moderated by the flood, gender evacuation of over a thousand
families in high-risk areas.
Affected colonies were Vista Hermosa, Luis Olague, Estrella Del Poniente, Fronteriza Baja,
Azteca, Los ojitos, Mariano Escobedo y la Morelos, Un fraccionamiento (like) neighborhood was
affected to burst the dam on the hill known as El águila located in La sierra Juárez.28
26
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/09/23/estados/030n1est 27
http://estadomayor.mx/33622 28
La noche que no durmió Juárez. (2006, Agosto 1). Retrieved from XHEPL:
http://xepl.com.mx/completa1.php?s=&i=17417&or=m
39
Own elaboration in database Plan de Desarrollo Urbano de Ciudad Juárez ―Los Ojitos, Plan
Parcial‖ of Ayuntamiento de Juarez Chihuahua and Instituto Municipal de Investigacion.
Background Partial Plan El Barreal y Oriente San Isidro
In July 2008, severe meteorological events recorded 68 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, and a monthly
cumulative 146 mm, which represents almost 50% of the average annual rainfall in Ciudad Juárez.
Such levels of intensity of rainfall caused flooding in much of the surface of the lagoon "El
Barreal" leaving hundreds of houses and industrial parks flooded during the contingency.29
Five years after the urbanization of the area Barreal approved, breach particular group that
developed the area without the works required to prevent flooding is still at risk thousands of
families and remains an expense for all juarenses. This year (2009) the government had to allocate
29
Dena, O., Obeso, G., Doser, D., Leyva, J., Rascón, E., Gómez, F., & Domínguez A., M. (2012, Junio 29). Using
subsurface geophysical methods in flood control: A resistivity survey to define underground storage capacity of a sand
body in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
40
14.3 million dollars to rebuild the necessary dikes to contain the water at the top, in the Santa
Elena.30
Own elaboration in database Plan de Desarrollo Urbano de Ciudad Juárez ―El Barreal y Oriente
San Isidro Plan Parcial‖ of Ayuntamiento de Juarez Chihuahua and Instituto Municipal de
Investigacion.
Own elaboration in database Plan de Desarrollo Urbano de Ciudad Juárez ―El Barreal y Oriente
San Isidro Plan Parcial‖ of Ayuntamiento de Juarez Chihuahua and Instituto Municipal de
Investigacion.
30
Nieto, S. R. (2009, Agosto 04). Prevalecen riesgos en El Barreal, a 5 años de que inició desarrollo. Retrieved from
Agua.org.mx Centro virtual de infromacion del agua:
https://agua.org.mx/h2o/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8904:prevalecen-riesgos-en-el-barreal-a-
5-anos-de-que-inicio-desarrollo&catid=61:noticias-
nacionales&Itemid=300054https://agua.org.mx/h2o/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=890
41
3.3.3 Conclusion
Ciudad Juárez has gone through many natural hazards related to situations in which certain parts
of the city are more vulnerable than others, so some institutions have developed these partial
charge to solve or prevent the problem of an environmental risk plans. These plans detail the
information to be made in the following years, in addition to institutions or persons responsible for
carrying them out.
Ciudad Juárez needs recovery systems and stormwater control to maximize this resource as dams
are there in the city are insufficient to address these problems of heavy rain.
Need more community support for the realization of projects, more integration with the
inhabitants of the areas of the institutions responsible, if this relationship was achieved all plans be
realized successfully because there would be a public participation, and a commitment to of all
people to improve their quality of life and prevent an environmental hazard.
42
3.4 Water Supply
In studying the watersheds that supply water to Ciudad Juarez, we hope to understand the current
state of the water supply and risks that threaten the greater Ciudad Juarez area both now and in the
near future. In addition to researching the water supply of Ciudad Juarez, it is also important to
consider other variables central to the issue of water supply, including water consumption, climate
change, and policy for water distribution.
3.4.1 Water Sources
Figure 6:Hueco Bolson Aquifer Figure 7: Rio Bravo Watershed
The principal sources of water for Ciudad Juarez are the Hueco Bolson aquifer and the Río Bravo
(Rio Grande), located along the border of Texas and Mexico. The Hueco Bolson aquifer is the
principal source of drinking water, while the Río Bravo is designated overwhelmingly for
agricultural use, due to its lower water quality.31
31
http://www.ibwc.gov/crp/riogrande.htm
43
A preliminary consideration as to the severity of the water issue that Ciudad Juarez faces is the
sustainability of the water resources themselves. This is dependent on water use, but also heavily
so on renewal and replenishment of these water basins.
The Hueco Bolson recharges from precipitation in the mountains and treated wastewater
injections. These injections are especially important since the geology of the basin, which is
comprised primarily of clay and silt, allow for only the top few hundred feet of water to be
potable.32
Additionally, because the rainy season is relatively short (4 months), most of the water
evaporates before it is captured by the aquifer.33
Juarez is currently seeking other water sources;
the Hueco Bolson was projected to be out of usable water in 2015.34
The Río Bravo watershed is
recharged primarily through surface irrigation and seepage from other water channels.35
3.4.2 Data and Policies
Water Consumption
Consumption from these water sources in Ciudad Juarez was accurately modeled to be dependent
on average rainfall, average temperature, average water price per cubic meter, maquiladora
employment, and the national industrial production index for Mexico. The water usage usually
reacts within a few months to changes in any of these economic and environmental variables. The
same variables that affect the water consumption of Ciudad Juarez also affect many other large
cities situated in semi-arid climates.
Of course, water supply and water consumption cannot be constant, yet constantly changing. In
the end, what is needed is a water use pattern such that the total consumption from the watersheds
that serve Ciudad Juarez is less than the total recharge of those basins, establishing a positive net
flux into the watersheds.
Risks to this balance are climate, population, and municipal water system changes. Droughts
affecting the entire Chihuahua region of Mexico have intensified in recent years, which has made
conservation efforts in Mexico even more dire as water resources become ever more scarce. As the
droughts continue, the population of the greater Ciudad Juarez and El Paso metropolitan areas are
expected to jump from about 15 million in 2014 to 20 million by 2020. As a result, each of the
watersheds shared across these municipalities will be under further strain. In combination with
increasing population is increasing infrastructure to support increased water demand. Large
problems already facing the utilities district of Ciudad Juarez are old, leaky water lines, which are
causing considerable water loss. Budget constraints limit which pipes get fixed, and in what
order.36
32
http://www.ibwc.gov/Water_Data/binational_waters.htm#CurrWtrLevels 33
http://www.imip.org.mx/pdu/PDUSEPT2010.pdf 34
http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=ucowrconfs_2006 35
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-mexico-drought-idUSBRE82K1E520120321 36
http://www2.uacj.mx/iit/culcyt/mayo-agosto2006/4ARTAGUA.PDF
44
Policies
In observance that Ciudad Juarez and El Paso are sharing a trans-national water supply, the cities
established a 1999 Memorandum of Understanding between City of Juárez, Mexico Utilities and
the El Paso Water Utilities Public Services Board of the City of El Paso, Texas to share the
resources of and information about the Hueco Bolson aquifer, and not a transboundary aquifer
agreement. This means that each city is drawing water from the same source without direct
consultation. Though not nearly specific enough to control consumption on either side of the
border, these aquifer-specific agreements do seem to be more lucid and efficient than a more
general water usage agreement between countries.37
To put the issue into a national perspective, CONAGUA, Mexico‘s water authority, is projecting
investments of over 300 billion pesos ($23.6 billion) by 2030 to maintain and modernize its
overall water infrastructure.
3.4.3 Discussion and Conclusion
From the exploration of the water supply of Ciudad Juarez, it is clear that other policies on water
usage geared toward saving water could be beneficial.
As an example, surface water from the Río Bravo or other sources could be utilized, if not directly
for agriculture, to recharge aquifers for later use in times of drought.38
As an alternative to these
watersheds, another major area for water supply that is now being explored is the collection of
rainwater for domestic use. Improving the water infrastructure can also be an important first step
that can take place immediately for reducing the water removed from the Hueco Bolson and Río
Bravo watersheds.
These suggestions or others like them may soon be implemented as water resources become
increasingly scarce and water demand continues to rise. While a framework for a comprehensive
trans-national water agreement has been established, more specific and quantitative courses of
action for sharing the Hueco Bolson and Río Bravo watersheds could make the future of water in
Ciudad Juarez less uncertain.
37
http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/bibliography/articles/Eckstein-Mex-US_ICLR.pdf 38
http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/hueco_bolson.htm
45
4 Economic Development
4.1 Abstract
One cannot talk about the economic development of Ciudad Juarez without talking about its
manufacturing industry. Similarly, one cannot talk about maquiladoras without talking about the
grave and negative impact it had on the social fabric and quality of life of the city. For that reason,
our research, analysis, and conclusions will be done with one bottom line in mind: Juarez needs,
and deserves, an economic development plan maximizes its quality of life. From this, the rest will
follow. To perform our study, we have begun by collecting historical and background information
on the city‘s business leaders, industries, unemployment, social orders, and demographics. With a
clearer understanding on the city‘s economic composition, we formulated three key questions:
1) What industries/companies could be increased/generated to achieve a more diverse
development?
2) How can we account of informal enterprises and create policies that are inclusive of them?
3) How can the city create sustainable and reliable employment?
The information, analysis, and principal conclusions are explained in this section of the report.
The content under each question does not contain the answer, but rather the background research
and analyses that we have performed so far to eventually develop insights that will allow us to
propose an answer to the each question. In that light an overview of further research and analyses
to be performed is presented at the end.
4.2 The City’s Economy from a Research Perspective
A Brief History of the Local Economy
The city of Juarez has seen many historical and local transformations. At the end of the 1930s
when prohibition ended and the production and consumption of alcohol in the US became legal
again, Juarez saw a huge growth in nightclubs and informal trade.
The exodus to Juarez generated a consensus of agricultural workers, the Juarez Valley and
agricultural production which had its time of its peak between the forties and sixties. The growth
of the urban area, and large infrastructure and housing demands, however, created a crisis in the
city, and left more than 40,000 people unemployed. The local vision adapted to solve these
problems and in 1965 leadership adopted policies to attract intensive industries for unskilled labor
and manufacturing, focusing specifically on attracting female labor and integrate it into the labor
market, creating conditions of deprivation and inefficiency of the necessary social infrastructure to
meet the needs of their families and particularly their children.
The establishment of the Maquiladora Industry (IME) created a demographic and occupational
structure in the town of unique characteristics, as young men and women came to town for miles,
most of them with low education and of rural origin, to join the workers‘ jobs that IME generated
exponentially from the 1970s until the end of the 1990s.
The phenomenon of maquiladora created the paradox of growth in Ciudad Juarez: on the one
hand, it generated low-grade and low-income wage earnings, demand for economic and industrial
infrastructure (e.g. industrial parks, roads, industrial transport and services); on the other hand, it
46
contributed to the construction of job insecurity and the formation of a vulnerable working masses,
which lost its purchasing power for over forty years, the degree of nurturing the formation of
slums.
What do the workers do when they lose their job? In diversified economic structures workers tend
to lean towards horizontal mobility: they seek jobs in other economic sectors which require similar
work skills and try to maintain the same level of income; as economies develop, however, job
searches become more complex and specialized skills become increasingly important. This leaves
unskilled workers struggling to find jobs, and many of them turn to the informal sector instead.
Informal labor then increases, mainly in the activities of trade and services of minimum
requirements of knowledge and skills, such as housework, maintenance, plumbing, plumbing;
masonry work, subcontracting may then grow, including the underemployed or occupation
without pay.
With the fall of household income either by lack of employment or by the precarious conditions
thereof families have lost their purchasing power and thus their quality of life.
Violence in Juarez has increased in gravity since 1993 - first towards women, with multi-
documented femicides of working women, mothers and youth. Later the problem increasingly
extended to domestic violence and child abuse; then the unbridled violence associated with crime
and drug trafficking, which culminated in an enormous risk to social catastrophe of our society.
Regional Economy
*For more information on regional economy please refer to the El Paso Case Study in section 3.2.
Juarez is the major economic base of the state, as shown in Figure 1. However, and as presented in the following sections, while it is the one that employs more people and produces more goods, services and money, it is not the most benefited from public funds, or even public focus.
Figure 8: Distribution of Employees across the State
Economic Sectors
To achieve a robust economic base, Juarez requires focusing on developing all three sectors of its
economy: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The following sections describe the current state on all
three and provide recommendations to develop them for the future.
47
Primary Sector: Agriculture, & Livestock
Agriculture
Agriculture demands more than 85% of the water used in the state, and as in any desert region,
there is a fragile tradeoff between giving water to the people or to the crops. Unfortunately,
distribution channels do not have a permanent
program of conservation and rehabilitation.
A small part of Juárez economy is based on
farming and agriculture, and utilize lands that are
located in Valle de Juárez (Juarez Valley).
Several farms, besides being themselves
producers, utilize irrigation systems, machinery
(tractors, etc.). The primary crops in Juarez
Valley are cotton, wheat and sorghum. The main
towns in Juarez Valley that have farmland are
Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, Loma Blanca, San
Agustin, San Isidro, Jesus Carranza, and land
extending almost to Ciudad Juárez, as is
Zaragoza. (see Figure 2). Faced with widespread
increases in food prices, agriculture has declined
tremendously in the region. It is, however,
positioned as a niche opportunity to detonate and
diversify employment throughout the area,
according to specialists. One of the main
arguments to support this statement is that the
basic grain, corn, sorghum, soybeans and beans
have doubled in price just within the last two
years.
For producers, this presents a unique opportunity
to push for public policies that support crop production in Juárez Valley. The potential stimulus
would facilitate greater wealth generation and result in thousands of jobs for the trade and services
sectors. The opportunities are even lager agriculture sector is further industrialized, as it has
already done in other parts of the State. The feasibility of such industrialization has been proved
by the already installed economic technologies in the fields.
In the history of Juárez, the agriculture field has played a very important role. Miguel Ángel
Rodríguez Calderón, vice president of the College of Economists of Juárez, indicated that between
the 1950s and 1970s, agriculture was a key part in the economy of the region. He noted that
between 1950 and 1960, Chinese and Japanese who had migrated to the city from the United
States dedicated to growing vegetables such as carrots, pumpkin, grapes, alfalfa, melon,
watermelon and even flowers. Colonies such as Melchor Ocampo, former Hippodrome, San
Lorenzo and a good part of what is now planted with houses, were once productive agricultural
lands. The areas of Satellite and Zaragoza were filled with cotton, for here the best conditions for
growing would occur.
Given the agriculture boom in the late 1960s, the United States accumulated a cotton overstock
that they kept from the market, causing a price increase that affected many farmers. The US then
Figure 9: Farming Areas
48
imposed an embargo on Mexican cotton. These circumstances and the emergence of polyester
ended the boom the region was experiencing. Still, cotton is one of the most widely planted crops
currently in the region, who keep generating profits from them, and keep proving that it is a
feasible and profitable line of business. According to the latest data available, the main crops in
the Juarez Valley are cotton (38%), wheat (21%), alfalfa (19%), nut (11%) and maize (6%).
Insecurity, lower prices , lack of capital, lack of water, lack of technology, and neglect from the
government have been the major obstacles that have caused the declining agriculture sector, as
indicated by researcher at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, Benjamín Carrera
Chávez. A study indicated that in 2001, supported by Procampo in the Valle de Juárez surface,
marked the record 9,000,036 hectares of expansion. Procampo gave information indicating that
nine years later, in 2010 the number of hectares planted dropped to 5,000,484, (a drop of 39.3%).
The value of production also experienced a significant drop, according to the study by Carrera
Chavez.
In 2003, the production value of the Valle de Juárez was $206.2M (pesos). By 2009, production
value had fallen to $158.9M (in real pesos), meaning a decrease of 22.9%.
Product prices reached a peak in late 2003, but afterwards the low prices made the growth of
several crops non-affordable. In early 2004 yellow maize fell from $500,000 pesos per ton to
$200,000 and did not regain its value until the end of 2006. Sorghum dropped from $500,000
pesos per ton to $100,000 pesos and took two years to recover. Soybeans fell from $4000 to
$2000.
In 2007, when prices began to recover, other problems arose. A financial crisis, accompanied by a
spate of violence that lasted more than four years, prevented many farmers to continue working.
The Journal documented cases where farmers fled leaving at the fields, threatened by extortionists
and kidnappers. Carrera Chavez said that the downturn in the global economy gravely impacted
most producers in the region, who also suffered consequences of being threatened by organized
crime. Many producers were undercapitalized at the expense of government support.
Had not yet passed the seriousness of the crisis and violence, when a third conflict came: the lack
of water. While for many years the Valley irrigated using greywater (a mixture of treated water
with surface water), one of the harshest droughts in 50 years caused the rainfall runoff to be
reduced considerably, as treated water.
According to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food
(SAGARPA), in 2013 750 hectares of cotton were planted in Juárez. However, throughout the
Juarez Valley, 4,000,950 hectares were cultivated. For sixty years, the introduction of mechanical
harvesting practically put an end to the bracero system.
For many reasons, the agriculture sector in the region has been affected in the last decades. None
of those events, however, are permanent or irreparable. Figure 2.3.2 at the end of the following
section contains important proposals to revitalize agriculture, which will provide a strong basis for
local consumption of food and other goods, as well as generate exports.
49
Livestock
The world‘s milk production in 2005 amounted to 537 million liters per year, with an annual
growth of 1.5% in the last decade. This is concentrated in 17 countries which account for 70% of
production global dairy where Mexico ranks 15th place.
Chihuahua is one of the leading states in livestock and dairy industry in the nation. The state sits in
4thplace in the production of milk after the states of Jalisco, Coahuila and Durango. In 2005, the
entity produced more than 800 million liters of milk, which is equivalent to 8.1% of the domestic
production and represents a production of over 2 million liters daily.
The State of Chihuahua is known for Chihuahua cheese making (Menonite), butter, cream, yogurt
and milk pasteurization. Industry milk is concentrated in 4 municipalities in the state: Juarez,
Chihuahua, Cuauhtémoc and Delicias. These municipalities represent 69% of businesses, 83% of
jobs, 92% of output and value added of the industry in the State.
In Ciudad Juarez there are 148 companies in the dairy industry, employing 1,250 people. Juarez
known for its value added (40% of state total). The most important company is Grupo
Agroindustrial Zaragoza, with based in this city, where has a pasteurization plant and a factory
balanced foods.
Proposals to improve the current condition of primary activities in Juarez are presented in Figure
3.
Figure 10: Proposals to revitalize economic development through primary activities
Secondary Activities: Manufacturing & Domestic Industry
Industrial activity does not diminish the diversity and importance of the primary sector, since in
the entity there are important conglomerates of automotive, electronics, communications,
aerospace, appliances, biomedical, clothing, furniture, and some others branches. Moreover, the
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services in the State are led by tourism, which is mainly concentrated in the area of the cliffs,
Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua.
On par with the diversification, there are also severe disparities between the economic activities of
the entity. The first one lies in its sustainability, since in terms of employment generation, value of
its exports and contribution to the regional economic dynamics, different sectors contribute
unequally.
For its contribution to employment and exports, the maquiladora industry and manufacturing of
export (IMMEX) is of significant importance. It provides more than 250,000 jobs, equivalent to
40% of total formal employment (in 2010, there were 634,549 jobs in the maquiladora in the
state). Additionally, this important source of work attracts an average of $1B pesos per year and
represents 98% percent of exports in Chihuahua.
Unfortunately, the binding nature of the IMMEX with markets of consumer goods in the United
States, exposes it to economic cycles and generates problems when such markets enter economic
downturns. As a result, and as seen after 2008, Juarez experiences mass unemployment and drastic
falls in the volumes of exports.
For this reason, the priority of the tertiary sector should be to focus on diversification of markets,
as well as on the RAID of new clusters with a sustained long-term growth and high value-added
processes. Such is the case of aerospace, appliances, information technology and communications,
and mining.
Furthermore, activities such as tourism, trade, services, agro-industry and local industry in all its
aspects, constitute a second backbone to the economy. They generate almost 60% of total non-
manufacturing formal employment. Unfortunately, the incorporation of technology to these
economic sectors has been disproportionate amongst them and also in comparison to other cities
and regions, causing a loss of economic competitiveness.
While the IMMEX does incorporate and produce high-end technologies, the companies that have
managed the implementation of innovation and technology in their production schemes are scarce.
The participation of these sectors as engines in the economy dynamism is essential for the full
development of productive capacities.
Therefore, Juarez should aim to achieve greater productivity in the primary and secondary levels,
as well as a solid agricultural trading platform, so that the city can become highly profitable in all
of its activities. This would result in a high margin of competitiveness and sustainability within the
global market, without neglecting the domestic market. The city‘s economy needs a fresh vision
on regional development, one that links the promotion of SMEs to the attraction of new
investments, and which keep track of the strengthening of local companies.
With the dominance of the manufacturing industry, indirect services have become closer and
reagent production. National outsourcing providers promote competitiveness and agility of
responses to large markets, electronics and telecommunications for example. A tremendous
opportunity thus exists in benefiting from financing such projects.
An important challenge facing the industry in Chihuahua is the transfer of technology. This
happens in arrhythmic way, since local suppliers have little access to production processes of high
added value. Meanwhile, the micro-industries not related or chained to the maquiladora production
51
processes, focus largely on the transformation of goods (e.g. food, tools and spare parts for
machinery, ceramic and construction materials, metal-mechanical parts, clothing textile, forestry
and furniture). Registered micro-industries in Chihuahua amounts to more than 6,800
establishments, and generate more than 20,400 jobs.
Figure 11: Proposals to revitalize economic development through secondary activities
Tertiary Activities: Trade and Services
The structure of the commercial sector and services presents different degrees of development.
There is a group of commercial enterprises that are competitive internationally, which are able to
adapt and even develop their own strategies. However, a large number of enterprises, especially in
retail show technical and technological backwardness, lack of training and certification, low
service quality, and difficult of access to the financial system. The problems posed by marketing
systems in the different regions are associated with the particular characteristics of each channel,
the most common are:
Poor business capabilities.
Lag in the use of information technologies.
Lack of organization to compete, which results in:
Insufficient and inadequate systems for the conservation of products food.
Poor use of infrastructure.
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Poor logistics and transport system.
Insufficient information on markets.
Lack of knowledge and observation of the standards (certification).
Difficulty of access to credit.
Presence of illegal trade.
Lack of incentives for competitiveness.
Frequent over-regulation.
The tertiary sector is therefore one that has a large demand, and not much supply. Interestingly,
since the demand for services is not as latent as that for goods (is much easier to notice that I need
something to eat, than to notice I would benefit from having someone deliver it to my door, for
instance) the city has generally not even recognized the potential they could exploit by
strengthening tertiary activities. Figure 5 shows the proposals that could help revitalize the tertiary
economic sector in the city.
Establishments by Economic Activity
In this section we present our analysis on the city‘s enterprises. We hypothesized that the
economic activity composition of the city would be a determining factor that differentiated Juarez
economy with that of other cities. Therefore, we compared it to Matamoros, which is less
developed than Juarez, Tijuana, which is very comparable, Chihuahua, which has grown
tremendously over the last couple of decades and is perceived as having a different economic base
53
than Juarez, and Monterrey, which is a more financial and more first-world level economy. By
numbers, there are not discrepancies between the cities, and one important observation is that
Juarez is below Monterrey and Tijuana in number of retail businesses, and below Chihuahua,
Tijuana and Monterrey in the amount of manufacturing companies. We have to keep in mind
though that this is by number of establishments and does not take into account the size of each. All
of this is shown in Figure 6. The raw data for this and the rest of the figures in this section was
obtained from INEGI‘s Director Estadistico Nacional de Unidades (DENUE), and a portion of it is
shown in Appendix A.
By comparing the distributions as percentages we see that there is no significant different between
any of the cities. If the same is true once the actual amounts of money generated and invested are
considered, then we could conclude that the type of activity is not the cause of different levels of
development (see Figure 7).
Figure 12: Comparison of cities based on number of establishments by activity4
Then we performed a comparison by size of establishment, as seen in Figure 8. This is indeed a
direct comparison so the results can be interpreted directly. If we ignored Mexico City, there
would be a clear trend of more development being correlated with fewer amounts of very small (0
to 10 employees) businesses. As we can see, Monterrey, then Chihuahua, then Tijuana, then
Juarez and finally Matamoros go in increasing order of medium sized establishments (and
decreasing order of small sized ones). A similar trend of economic development is observed for
those cities. However, once Mexico City is considered, we no longer see that trend, which could
54
mean that it is an outlier, or that it is simply one of the many underlying factors dictating
development.
An important observation is that the great majority of establishments are micro (less than 10
employees) and small businesses (less than 20 employees). Keeping in mind that in Figure 8 the y-
axis starts at 80%, we can observe the disproportionate amount of them that are micro. For
comparison, in the United States only 86% of businesses are micro and small, when in Juarez 92%
are micro. This difference suggests that growth in the sizes of establishments can result in higher
economic development.
Figure 13: Comparison of establishments by type of economic activity in different cities
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Figure 14: Distribution by percentage of establishments by type of activity in different cities
Figure 15: Comparison by establishment size between different cities
The Public Sector
The breakdown of public funds in 2007 by source is shown in Figure 9, which total to
$2,632,064,705 pesos. The table below shows how these funds were utilized in 2014. The table
and figure were generated from information on different years, so while the discrepancy between
56
what comes in and what comes out is noticeable, it would be different if they represented the same
year. However, it would still hold that the expenditure would be larger than the income, which is
what generates the city‘s current debt of almost $200M pesos (it changes drastically from year to
year, and more drastically between government administrations).
Figure 16: Juarez's Sources of Public Funds
Table 5: Government Expenses in 20145
Ciudad Juarez is highly dependent on investment from the state, and obtains very little from the
federal government. The reverse is true of El Paso, where 4% of total public funds come from the
federal government and only 2% from the state. The state of Chihuahua, however, gives priority
to the city of Chihuahua, even when Juarez possesses a much larger population, and is
economically a more important hub for the country, and the state of course. In Table 2 we can
observe how for most of the sectorial investments Chihuahua is given priority. From the total state
investment, Chihuahua receives 23%, while Juarez only 17%. Yet, Chihuahua contains only 17%
of the state population, and Juarez 30%. In other words, Juarez is a laborer who is generating
outputs, which are then taken and utilized somewhere else.
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Table 6: Distribution of Public Funds between Juarez and Chihuahua5
Juarez has spent large amounts of funds in housing projects. Unfortunately, the investments have
not been planned adequately and have resulted in most of the houses built under affordable houses
programs to be abandoned, at the outskirts of the city. Table 3 shows the housing programs by
institutions for Juarez and Chihuahua.
Table 7: Public Investment in Housing Programs in 2012 (pesos)5
Now that the economic base has been laid out, the three questions that were presented at the beginning of this section will be discussed.
4.3 Achieving Economic Diversity
Economic risks cannot be avoided, but they can surely be diversified. Although manufacturing
companies of different industries have operated in Juarez, the focus on manufacturing does not
achieve the diversification required to reduce risk to bearable levels. But how did Juarez evolve
into an economy so centralized in the maquiladora industry? The next section explains how
maquilas developed.
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A Historical View on Juarez’ Undiversified Economy
From the 1980s, the state of Chihuahua began to play an important role in enhancing the
development of economic activity and more intense way of manufacturing under the regime of the
maquiladora industry (IME ) in sectors such as automotive, electrical and electronic; branches of
economic activity closely linked to industries located in various parts of the world, whose
fragmentation of production processes began to relocate to places like Juarez, low productive
processes characterized by their requirements for labor intensive transnational companies that
primarily seeking low-skilled workforce and lower cost.
In Juarez, this phenomenon of transition began much earlier (1960s) when a dynamic growth
started in manufacturing, which was accompanied by progressive deterioration of the traditional
economic sectors (i.e. primary activities). The main detonators were increasing rate of migration,
and manufacturing-driven primary activities. The population growth, along with the cheap labor
opportunity in the region, became a magnet for maquiladoras.
The incoming immigrant population was characterized by low education and skill levels, being
that most came from rural areas. The resulting job mobility was mainly of the horizontal type, and
instead of advancing the career development of such workers, it merely positioned them in a state
of segregation, which could only be overcame by accumulating learning within their processes and
work experiences.
During the decade of the 90s, high economic dynamism was identified in Juarez which revealed
the synergy of a system linked to US economic activity, as an important part of the maquiladoras
US originate installed capital.
Local economic growth presents a paradox regarding their evolution: while there was an industrial
and infrastructure boom, it was not adequately planned for, nor was the city prepared for it. The
consequences were therefore more negative than positive, resulting in an attention deficit to the
development of infrastructure and social facilities, as well as causing marginal conditions in most
areas of the city. In fact, between 1999 and 2004, Juarez absorbed more than 50% of the state‘s
economy.
Changes in the composition of employment between 1999 and 2004 showed increased activity in
the construction, transportation, mass media information, business services, health, and cultural
and sports entertainment. The emergence of services reduced the share of manufacturing industry,
implying a significant reduction in employment in the industrial sector. During that period, the
local economy grew significantly in the construction field; the impulse given by the state
government housing development partly explains this behavior. Other areas where the growth rate
was significant were the service sector, waste management and remediation services, transport,
education and retail. Establishments in the maquiladora industry, however, decreased by 16%,
while trade and services establishments grew by 20%. This transformation was due to the
installation of large companies around the IME (over 500 employees). Overall, the change in
employment shows that the economic structure as a whole decreased by 2% between 1999 and
2004.
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The local economy has lost momentum, and is now concentrated in few sectors of economic
activity with high added value and low wages. A trend toward specialization can be observed, and
is focused on four sub-sectors: manufacturing, transportation and storage, waste management and
remediation services, and cultural/sporting. An increasing number of businessmen are considering
the maquiladoras to be a risky business in Juarez.
The maquiladora model as a basis for economic
development in Juarez gave a boost to the
economic activities of the city in its infancy and
probably until the early eighties, following a
population boom of migrants with little schooling.
However, the model did not respond to the needs of
integration and technology development that would
allow the promotion of new local businesses.
Business organization did not understand the need
to invest in technology and in developing human
capital. In large part, the observed paradigm
associated with technological development in
Juarez provided minimal true development, mainly
because investors and capital owners had directed
their investments profit from developing the land
and/or renting it out. Currently, the maquiladora
industry looks as shown in Figure 10, which is a
map showing where maquilas are located (pink
dots), as well as the levels of wellbeing in the city
(light-blue being the lowest and dark-blue being the
highest).
Achieving a Diverse “Juarez Portfolio”
Diversity is one of the basic components upon which financials and economic markets are built. It
is a matter of minimizing risk by diversifying portfolios and reducing exposure to the volatility
and fluctuations of particular assets and/or industries. In the case of a city, the economic base can
be diversified by an endless combination of strategies, depending on the desired level of risk and
return the city desires (remember, generally the larger the risk the larger the returns). The principal
and obvious way in which a city can mitigate the cyclicality that affects industries is by attracting
and promoting businesses in a variety of industries, instead of concentrating on a few. But there
are many other ways to achieve diversity, and they go from how infrastructure projects are
financed, to how big or small companies are.
Study 1: Economic Diversification in U.S. Cities
A study performed by WalletHub, examined 350 of the largest U.S. cities across three metrics, as
shown in Table 4. They ranked the cities (Figure 11 shows the results, with blue being the most
diverse and orange the least) and studied the economic performance some of those cities have had
in the past, to then discern any relationship between diversity and economic growth or stability.
The results were analyzed by experts, and the following results were drawn (each point represents
a quote from an expert regarding whether diversification is ―healthy‖ for a city):
Figure 17: Maquiladoras and Levels of Wellbeing
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1. Policies that involve seed funding have proven to be effective if applied to the correct
industry. Several cities have created arts councils to try to attract the film industry to their
areas as a way of diversification. The results have been mixed because there are only so
many films being made outside of Hollywood and there is tremendous competition.
However, trying to attract other industries through tax incentives of seed funding can be
effective.
2. Local leadership should avoid the subsidy trap, offering enormous tax breaks to try to
attract a big employer. It's almost irresistible because other cities are also bidding for the
same companies, but it is often a race to the bottom. It would be good to have state or even
Federal leadership in preventing these bidding wars.
3. They can use tax incentives and subsidies to introduce other types of business that would
otherwise not be competitive in that city. Whether they should do that is another question.
4. Diversification cannot be the goal. It needs to be competitive in growing industries.
However, if a city is specialized on declining industry it needs public policy attention. For
example, Rochester specialized in film industry – it has gone down (at the same time
Seattle specialized in ICT and aeronautics has been growing).
5. The best thing a local government can do is to offer quality public services at the lowest
tax cost possible. Make sure there's enough land zoned for all the land uses needed in an
area (industrial, commercial, residential). Make sure local residents are well-trained to
compete for jobs. Have neat stuff that will attract young, highly-educated workers. Don't
pick favorites: the market will let you know what types of firms will find your location
attractive.
Table 8: Diversified City Economies, study of 350 U.S. cities
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Figure 18: U.S. cities ranked by economic diversity6
From the results, it seems like although there are benefits to diversifying, it cannot be forced and
the market has to follow its course. Additional issues come to the long-term nature of achieving
economic diversity for a city. It is impossible to do it at once, and the systematic transition from a
specialized to a diverse base has to be well planned.
Study 2: Economic Diversification in GCC, Transformation, and G7 Economies
A more comprehensive study in 2005 by Booz & Company looked not at cities, but at countries,
and compared their development and growth as a function of economic diversity. Their study
compared GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, Transforming Economies countries, and G7
economies. Their diversification scores are presented in Figure 12. The metrics compared were:
1. GDP growth volatility against economic concentration, and
2. Reward-to-volatility ratio (Sharpe ratio) against diversification quotient
The concentration ratio measures the level of dependency of an economy on one particular sector.
It is obtained by the sum of squares of percent contribution to GDP. The diversification quotient is
simply the inverse of concentration. The lower the concentration ratio (the higher the
diversification quotient) the more diversified the economy.
Their results can be summarized as follows: ―volatility minimization and risk-adjusted real
activity performance improvement can be largely achieved with increased economic
diversification”. To provide a more concrete recommendation, the study shows that ―policy-
makers must focus on economic diversification when creating development agendas, and
must rigorously measure and monitor economic diversity in evaluating the success of their
policies”.
These results (which were obtained via a regression analysis) are clearly shown in Figure 13. It is
important to note that they are statistically significant, as 30% of the variation in GDP growth
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volatility and reward-to-volatility ratio is captured by the single variable of economic
concentration and diversification.7
Figure 19: Diversification Scores from Study on GCC, Transformation, and G7 Countries
63
Figure 20: Relationship Between Economic Diversification and Economic Sustainability7
Conclusions and Recommendations
A more diverse economic base achieves more stable economic growth, and therefore a more
sustainable one. While the two studies had a particular methodology for focusing either on (1)
distribution of industries in a city and its workforce across those industries, or (2) the inputs and
outputs as measured by GDP by countries with different diversification profiles, there are an
abundance of methodologies that can be developed, and tailored to each city.
In particular, as part of design phase of the GUDP program, we will look at developing such a
methodology for Juarez. Some of the metrics that are being considered as part of the study include
the diversification in term structure of infrastructure financing, and other metrics to measure how
―local‖ the economic base is (meaning, if the industries‘ outcomes are being consumed in Juarez
or somewhere else).
For now, a recommendation based on the studies presented is for the public administration in
Juarez to actively seek the diversification of Juarez economic base in terms of economic output
and input distributions. This is crucial to mitigating the consequences of downturns like that which
occurred in 2008, and thus limiting negative consequences like violence outbreaks and poor
economic and social conditions to a large part of the city.
4.4 Development Policies that are Inclusive of Informal Enterprises
The informal economy, broadly speaking, is the set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs and
workers that are neither regulated nor protected by the state. As an unregulated industry, it
generates no tax income for the government and is generally not included in the computations for
gross domestic product (GDP). Those within the informal economy also lack access to
government budgets for economic and social development.
Overview and Background Research
The topic of informal economies has been one of the most important challenges in economic and
urban development policies in emerging economies. It is positioned as an economically active
population that results in diminishing tax contributions, which in turn limits government budgets
for the development of the economy and the country.
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Nearly 60% of workers in Mexico are employed in some sort of informal enterprise, where
workers are considered as independent, and they work for their own company, or that of a relative.
These businesses are generally dedicated to the production of goods and services. They, for the
most part, obey labor laws, but have no official regulation. By 2012, statistics on informal
economies in Mexico showed that 25.0% of GDP is informal. Even though this type of activity is
developed in urban settings, and sometimes it is even fixed within some localities, it can be found
in public transportation, roads, parks and plazas. The establishments are rudimentary, and are
usually opened after the laborer has finished his formal day job.
Chihuahua‘s population is 3,406,465, from which 39.10% lives in Juarez, representing a third of
the state population. Since the city‘s economy is heavily based on the manufacturing industry, it
severely suffered through the global economic crisis. After more than 80,000 employees were lost
due to the 2008 crisis, Mexico, especially border cities, were hit by waves of violence without
precedent. This was in part due to those ex-employees recurring to self-employment. In face to
this crisis, the question of ―what should be done with those employees who lost their jobs?‖ should
be asked. In diversified economic structures, there is lateral movement (between similar economic
branches and competencies, trying to maintain the same level of income) whenever one industry is
damaged.
Informal employment is thus incremented, particularly in commercial activities and services that
require minimum knowledge and skills, such as home jobs (catalog sales, unregulated groceries
stores, beauty salons), maintenance (plumbing, construction work, etc.) and others that can be
created out of subcontracts. Even working without payment is found.
Ciudad Juarez, as many other border cities, represents an expansion of the informal urban sector,
in great part due to the massive employment deficits after the closing of maquiladoras. Statistics
from the Municipal Commerce Director, indicate that in 2007 Juarez had 1,098 informal salesman.
Between 2008 and 2010 the number escalated to 2.731.
Informal sectors should be classified through the following criteria: dualism, structural
(production modes, which although they survive, have been able to renovate themselves and
establish functional relationships with modern international economies). Informal business exists
mainly because available job vacancies in the formal sector do not cover workers‘ expectations.
One important characteristic of informal businesses is their easiness of access, due to low amounts
of capital and low capacitation requirements. Street stands, home services, home improvement
services, and other similar activities are done by any person, regardless of whether they have had
special training or not.
In this sector, workers use to have low levels of education and come majorly from determined
sectors (women, children, elderly, recent immigrants). They also have significantly lower incomes
than those workers in the formal sectors, and their development opportunities are very limited, on
top of having family members working for them (who they don‘t pay) and household workers.
In several places we also see some ―informal‖ employment practices which are in fact not
informal. These include those merchants that are registered in SAT (Servicio de Administracion
Tributaria). Most part of this sector includes young people who, due to their lack of experience
working at a company or to the lack of job availability, opt to enter informality. In this sector we
find three main subsectors: extreme inferior, intermediate, and extreme superior. The lowest level
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consists of independent workers who trade basic products, such as food, or perform basic
transportation services. The intermediate level contains those dedicated to a more organized
commerce, and to the delivery of simple goods in small scale to consumers of the informal
economy. They employ family members. In the highest level we find those dedicated to the
fabrication at a small scale and low technological level, or those who provide machine repairmen
services. They also employ family members and tend to build micro-companies.
Therefore, within the informal economy we find incorporated those street vendors, artists,
transporters, home service providers (of all sorts), as well as sex-workers, among others. It is then
where informal employment is not only about informal commerce, but many other activities on
which resources are obtained in more precarious situations, many times in unsafe or unhealthy
places where competency and productivity are low, wages are below the legal minimum, work-
schedules are longer than they should. The informal sector also comes with limitations to credit
access.
Coming back to the characteristics of informal commerce, we can observe some of the principal
markets in Juarez, which are located in Figure 11.
66
Figure 21: Informal Commerce in Juarez
Some of this markets are already established, like the popular ―hoyo‖, which with support from
the local government became an established market with certain structural regime to define its
location, and number of establishments. Some markets become very problematic, as they block
roads and create congestion problems throughout the area where they are located. There we find
―parqueros‖ which are, also informally, directing traffic and get paid by willing ―customers‖. We
also find an abundance of street vendors who are located at street lights, and often find
confrontation with other people that want to take that same spot. Whenever these people are
selling food, it is under no regulation and it can be rather unhealthy.
We observe in the analysis that in Juarez, 264 informal merchants have 2 to 5 years working on
informal activities; more than 108 merchants have more than 6 years in the informal sector; and
more than half of them began since 2007, which is when the city‘s economic crisis began.
But what were the causes for people to opt for informal businesses? We find that 283 workers
were fired between 2008 and 2011; 173 quitted; and 111 were left unemployed because their
factories closed.
67
Regarding the informal work schedules, they tend to be very similar to those of the formal
economy, independently of what kind of activity they do. That is, they work, for the most part
between 5 and 7 hours per day.8 As far as wages go, those who are 23 to 28 years old obtain
incomes between $500 and $1,500 (in pesos). This age group represents the median income.7
Another important factor to be considered is the insecurity that caused many formal businesses to
close or switched to informal, with a drop of 24% in the established commerce. The education
levels of those who take part on the informal sector is as follows: 15% did not finish elementary,
71% did not finish middle-school. Those with the highest educational levels in this sector
increased in percentages from 14 to 27%, which means that even employees with high-education
could not keep their job.
The risk has been, and is, very grave. Extreme urban poverty in Juarez has taken thousands of
unemployed people to seek jobs as a ―parqueros‖, packers, peddlers, street clowns, or, on the
worst case, they start or become part of illegal businesses, and perpetuate the waves of violence
found in the city. It is here where organized crime comes into play, as a large source of informal
income, which many times exists as a small store where drugs are sold. By 1998, there were 925
of those in the city. But the effects on the economy are greater than just the non-receiving of
income from those businesses. One branch of organized crime is collecting ―cuotas‖, which bands
charge to establishments in exchange for protection. Often, these fares are higher than the entire
revenue of the establishment, so once the business is not generating enough to pay the fare, they
are burned, or owners are killed.
The growth of the city and the uncontrolled population growth have resulted on inflated wages,
and an oversupply of employees. Since there are not enough jobs available, people have to look
for income somewhere else, hence the large growth of informal and illegal economic activity.
Without a doubt, this informality damages the distribution of tax resources, but also without a
doubt this type of activity creates a resource that supports entire families, because they are at least
contributing to the city‘s capital gains, by paying for public services such as gas, electricity,
telecommunications, etc.
The informal sector does not have enough human capital, or it just does not involve in such a way,
as to develop products and services that can be exchanged in international markets.
Key Findings
In recent years, attention has turned to the informal economy with the objective of incorporating
the informal services and businesses into the formal economy to benefit those involved in the
informal economy and stimulate economic growth as a whole.
As we go about working with the informal sector, it is crucial to recognize the disincentives that
exist with the focus. As the informal economy is unregulated, the businesses and service providers
do not have to pay taxes – which they see as a key reasons to continue to remain informal. This
also means, however, that they are skirted of social security and other government benefits of
contributing to the economy. Similarly, many of them do not use regulated financial services, and
thus loose the benefits that would come with that.
Currently, about 60% of the Mexican population works in informal jobs. These good and
production businesses often do not comply with labor laws and operate without any regulation.
68
The total population of Chihuahua is around 3.4 million people, of which 39% lives in the city of
Juarez. Juarez has experienced severe economic difficulties with the loss of 80,000 jobs due to the
economic crisis of 2008 and the violence that has led to many businesses closing. These changing
economic circumstances have led to an increase in the informal economy as many of these
services do not require a large amount of training or skills.
Proposal: Social Security Mutual Fund for informal sector workers
The goal of this fund would be to extend benefits to informal workers in Juarez – specifically
income security, both in old age and in times of unemployment. Individuals, with a focus on
workers in the informal sector, would be targeted to put a part of their earnings into the fund each
month. Because the goal of the fund would be financial inclusion, as opposed to maximizing
financial returns of the bank, the individual contributors could make up the board and govern the
social security and unemployment benefit process.
Certain factors that would make this fund especially attractive to workers in the informal sector
include:
Creating a flexible fund. Specifically, this would mean that members would be able to take out
part of their contributions if they needed extra cash for financial shocks or any other emergency
expenses.
Creating a system that allows members to use their savings as collateral against current borrowing.
This would expand informal workers‘ access to credit, another aspect of the formal financial
system that informal workers are frequently excluded from.
Combining the opportunities and resources extended through this mutual fund with the possibility
of extending savings options to increase access to microcredit. This can operate in conjunction
with the policies that would allow contributors to use their savings as collateral when borrowing
money.
Voluntary enrollment. While the goal of this initiative would be to eventually extend social
security and unemployment benefits to all workers in the informal economy, this is best achieved
when participants participate voluntarily and are thus individually motivated to work within the
program and contribute to the decision making body.
Currently, Mexico does host a fund for retirement, the ―afore‖, and workers can remove 10% of
this amount of 30 days of their previous income one time when unemployed. Informal workers
also face barriers to accessing credit: while it is possible for them to access some amount, they
must present a letter from their boss specifying their salary, their position in the company, three
months of payroll documentation and six months of bank statements. This proposal would make it
easier for informal workers to access credit and give them viable collateral.
Proposal: Mutual Fund Health Insurance Pool
Similarly to the mutual fund for retirement benefits, this would operate as a community based
health care system. Premiums would be low in order to facilitate broad coverage, and again the
governing decision making body would be mostly made up of contributors with the intention of
increasing ownership and engagement on ensuring the health care fund is benefiting the informal
workers it is set up to help.
69
Conclusions
The informal sector produces a necessary evil, given that the local government has no way of
subsidizing the demand for jobs. For those people without the education and/or expertise to work
formally, it offers them income opportunities. Moreover, most people believe that switching from
the informal to the formal sector will only result in them giving extra money to the government,
with no added benefit to their business. We see then a lack of support, lack of education, and an
economic structure that foments informal businesses. To reduce the share of that sector, those
incentives need to be removed, the public has to be more informed on the added benefits that
being formal results in.
4.5 Creating Sustainable Jobs
By sustainable jobs we mean the type of economic activity that is not too cyclical, supports other
local businesses, and does not require constant investment to survive. To answer this question, we
analyzed the economic composition of the city by activities, and mapped where businesses are
located, with hopes of finding how Juarez differs to other cities in Mexico and in the world.
Current State
Juarez‘s level of economic competency is remarkably low for a border city of this size. It is
positioned in number 43 in Mexico, with a GDP per capita of $104,000, investments of $61,000
per economically active person, and a talent index of 32 (all monetary quantities given in pesos).
This positions Juarez as number 62 in economic growth in Mexico, over the last decade.
As it was discussed in previous sections, Juarez strong reliability in the manufacturing sectors
exposes the city to larger risks when such industry is affected. As part of the sustainable economic
basis for the city, a diversification plan at all business and investment levels should be sought.
In the following sections, several proposals are introduced, which approach the subject of
sustainable jobs from different angles.
Training Programs and Self-Employment Support
Training Program for self-employment and self-management of micro-recovery-recovery of local
economic life. To strengthen economic development from the endogenous activities, assume the
capabilities and potential of human capital and potential of local-regional financial capital. It is
proposed that a training program whose contents attend technical learning, self-management,
organizational and workgroup integration with network approach is generated:
70
Entrepreneurial Activity
While Juarez is not recognized as an entrepreneurial hub, El Paso is increasingly becoming one.
From 2000 to 2007, the industry segments which realized the largest percentage gains were all in
the ―creative class‖: Arts/Entertainment grew 33.3%, information firms grew 25%, and the
professional/scientific/technical sector grew by 21%. It would therefore be prudent to look at El
Paso for some inspiration on how to achieve a larger representation of entrepreneurial activity.
With maquiladoras having a weaker presence compared to past decades, and the spotlight that the
city has taken in the last years, Juarez is ongoing a transformation stage that needs to be seized.
Preparing the ground for establishing the basis for an innovative economy, which would allow a
transition to a new economic base, is not trivial. Economic outputs generated from innovation
sectors are something that cannot be forced; it has to come naturally and as a transformation path.
As pointed out by the study in diversification by Booz & Company7: ―a premature reliance on
innovation sectors is likely to minimize chances of success and expose a not-yet-immunized
economy to harmful and disruptive competition.
Still, the potential for innovation hubs is great in a region such as El Paso - Juarez, where only
three publicly traded companies (El Paso Electric Company, Helen of Troy Corporation, and
Western Refining) are headquartered, even when there are 70 Fortune 500 companies in the
region.
Renewable Energy
A discussion about sustainable jobs should at some point touch on the importance of having a
sustainable source of energy. Juarez is located in a region that receives a significant amount of
radiation, but this is seldom taken advantage of. As part of the design phase for the GUDP
71
Program, the integration of renewable energy generation to the grid will be evaluated. Through
feasibility analyses it will be determined whether the option is plausible, and if so if it is scalable.
We believe that in combination with some of the other projects and recommendations that will be
proposed, generation of renewable energy will be complemented very adequately.
Economic Development and Densification
From the two maps of Juarez that are shown next, one can infer several things. First, as we see in
the first map, the pink dots (which indicate establishments that provide some type of service) are
for the most part located at major avenues in the city. Therefore, a plausible strategy for creating
economic growth in a particular zone would be to find an optimal ratio of avenues to residential
areas. Second, the density of such establishments is much higher towards downtown, and their
presence predominates in the north-west, where there is higher population density. An interesting
snowball effect can be observed, where low density areas, as is the case of upper class residential
areas, have a lower presence of service establishments, which in turn can generate less economic
development in the area, and over the years an unsustainable economic system. This is the
contrary to high-use dense spaces.
On the second map, the red dots indicate manufacturing companies. It can be observed that
contrary to service establishments, which are for the most part much smaller and easier to locate
on the side of large avenues, manufacturing establishments usually come in clusters, as they
require lots of land, which is not available anywhere. Also, most are located near a major avenue
in order to facilitate the delivery and shipping of materials. They also tend to be at what used to be
the edges of the city in previous decades, before it expanded to its current size. This is yet another
evidence of the lack of systematic urban planning observed in Juarez.
Densification is at the core of sustainable development in a city. A myriad of studies have shown
the benefits to a city of becoming denser. Not only are less resources consumed per capita, but the
quality of life is incremented by less commuting time, which is one of the most stressful activities
human have identified to perform (given that proper transit amenities are built). Moreover, the
productivity of cities is directly related to their density. The more interactions with other
individuals the more innovative and healthier a society becomes. In the long run, all these traits are
desirable to achieve sustainable and healthy growth.
72
4.6 Going into the Design Phase
73
74
4.7 Economic Development: Conclusions
75
76
Percentage of Occupied Commercial Space
We will look at each of the colony trade that occurs, at all levels, and what are the characteristics
of the dominant. With that, we went the percentage that is being used to trade and what is its main
business. This was done with each of the colonies of different areas.
What we can see is that colonies with greater index of trade, of the three zones, were engaged in
retail sale of household appliances, computers, and articles for interior decoration and used items.
And these colonies are located on main streets, so much traffic flow and therefore conclude that
this is the reason why have a greater number of trade and therefore is generated employment area.
77
APPENDIX A
78
5 Quality of Life
Quality of life is a comprehensive area that encapsulates a wide variety of subjects and
characteristics of life in Ciudad Juarez. To understand the day to day living conditions for
individuals residing in the city, we analyzed three specific questions:
1. How does community engagement affect issues of safety and security within the city?
2. How widely available are resources that lead to higher levels of welfare?
3. How has the purchasing power of a peso affected the quality of life within Ciudad Juarez?
These issues were analyzed through a variety of lenses and the following text briefly outlines the
data and background of each of these areas, while also offering specific strategies for achieving a
higher quality of life.
5.1 Community Engagement and Security
For the past decade security has been an issue within Ciudad Juarez. In confronting the social
dynamics within the city, we are hoping to address security issues through a new lens. In cities
around the world, there has been a strong relationship between community engagement and
feelings of safety and security. With this in mind, the GUDP team researched the forces behind
community engagement and security in Ciudad Juarez.
Security Background
Ciudad Juarez has appeared high on the world‘s most dangerous cities list since 2008, ranking
number one in homicides 2008, 2009, and 2010 among the 50 most violent cities in the world39
. In
recent years the crime rates have decreased and Ciudad Juarez now holds the 27th position on the
list. When comparing the population and homicide rate of cities appearing on this list, New
Orleans (ranked 26th) is comparable. The report is published annually by Security, Justice, and
Peace, a Mexican think-tank that tracks worldwide crime statistics40
. Although security within
Ciudad Juarez can be categorized in various ways (safety in the home, urban security, family
safety, social security, employment and fair working conditions, public and public safety, and
secure justice), a report published by Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (referencing the
United Nations‘ past work) this report focuses on security in the city, including urban homicides
and other acts of violence.
In addition to standard cases of violence, including armed robbery and murder, Ciudad Juarez has
been cited by academics on multiple occasions for a high rate of female related violent crimes.
These have been documented as violent sexual murders, involving rape and other sexual
harassment, that have plagued the city. In one paper, published by Harvard, these events are
analyzed in relation to the culture and community of Ciudad Juarez41
. This paper refers to the
machismo aspect of Latin culture that describes the gender power relation between men and
women. Since the maquiladoras attract women from across Mexico for employment and economic
39
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24939627/ju-rez-and-four-u-s-cities-among 40
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24939627/ju-rez-and-four-u-s-cities-among 41
http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/other-side-ciudad-ju%C3%A1rez-femicide-story
79
opportunities. Maquiladoras employ 60% female workers42
and more and more women have
gained responsibility and independence creating contention within the traditional gender roles
within Latin culture. Although, female homicides appear to be a relatively low percentage of total
annual murders, the violent and sexual nature of these murders has drawn increased attention.
Another issue regarding security within Ciudad Juarez is the lack of trust in local authorities. This
issue extends from the justice system and police enforcement to the bus system, operated in part
by public parties. In 2008, only one third of the police force was fired or quit due to ties to crime.43
As a border city, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juarez has been infamous for
drug and cartel issues. In a stark comparison to its Mexican counterpart, El Paso, Texas has been
ranked as one of the safest cities in the United States. Just across the border, Ciudad Juarez was
home to the Juarez Cartel, the local drug cartel until 2008 with the Sinaloa Cartel moving into the
area. Power struggles between the two cartels climaxed in 2008 until Sinaloa was able to claim
control of most of Ciudad Juarez. In addition to the power struggles between local cartels, drug
addiction and trafficking has become an increasing problem. Currently, Ciudad Juarez has the
cheapest rate for drugs in North America with a dose of heroin costing approximately $5.44
Although the illegal drug trafficking to the United States continues to be the primary revenue
source for the cartels, drugs have become cheaper and more accessible, the addiction levels have
risen within the city.
42
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/in-mexicos-murder-city-the-war-appears-
over/2012/08/19/aacab85e-e0a0-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html 43
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/in-mexicos-murder-city-the-war-appears-
over/2012/08/19/aacab85e-e0a0-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html 44
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/in-mexicos-murder-city-the-war-appears-
over/2012/08/19/aacab85e-e0a0-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html
Figure 22: Spatial distribution of homicides, 2009 and 2013; Source: Luis E Cerveza Gomez, Colegio de la Frotera Norte
80
Figure 23: Annual Homicides; Source: Asi Estamos Juarez
Community Engagement Background
―Community engagement‖ is a term too broad to try to cover all possible connotations in a single
definition. To engage, or participate, in principle, means to ―take part―, by joining any type of
community organization, for example. In modern societies it is impossible stop participating.
College professor and non-profit organization leader José Luis Flores believes that ―even the total
absence of participation is also, inevitably, a way of sharing common ideals‖. Those who believe
in not being engaged with their communities are giving a vote of confidence to others to make
decisions for them.
The excessive urban sprawl that has taken place in Ciudad Juárez in the past decades has
contributed greatly to low levels of community engagement. As a consequence comes the
emergence of transient communities without a sense of unity. Trying to be proactive and engaged
in a community that has suffered an abandonment process eventually takes a toll on a society‘s
self-esteem. Another worrying situation is the lack of trust citizens seem to have in their local
government. Poll questions made by non-profit organization Plan Estratégico de Juárez reveal that
the city feels like the government does not take their opinions into account in their decision
making processes.
In Ciudad Juárez, although the majority of citizens do not belong to community organizations, the
ones that do are mostly part of religious groups, which seem to have great influence over their
members. It has also been observed that topics that worry citizens (like the lack of safety and
increased violence) can have an impact on the levels of participation and engagement. These
findings will be of great importance in the process of developing a strategy to bring change to
Juárez. The main goal of the implementation of this strategy should form a chain reaction that
starts with increased participation in communities, continues with lowering worrying statistics and
ends with a necessary increase in quality of life.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Male Victims Female Victims Unidentified Victims
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Figure 24: Active members of any community organization; Source: Asi Estamos Juarez
Figure 25: Overall Community Engagement vs. Safety+Violence Concern; Source: Asi Estamos Juarez
Strategies
Any type of intervention must have an element that attracts its users, ideally while providing a
solution to a problem. The Quality of Life Indicator System developed by Así Estamos Juárez (an
organization part of non-profit organization Plan Estratégico de Juárez) has gathered data that
comes directly from interviewing the city residents on topics regarding their daily lives. The
citizens‘ answers have given great insight on how lifestyles vary in different areas of the city and
what attracts each one of them.
One of the topics that stood out was the relatively low number of citizens with internet access at
their houses, jobs, schools and mobile phones. Living in fast-paced societies where ―free wifi‖
82
seems to be at the turn of every corner, the lack of internet access in Juárez seems like an
opportunity to take advantage of. When asked, several students from the UACJ agree that almost
every citizen (regardless of economic background) owns a mobile phone.
Providing internet access, ideally to several areas in the city, could be one of the elements that
form a strategy to attract citizens. This, in combination with other programmatic components such
as education programs, sports activities, entertainment, etc., could likely increase community
engagement and eventually lower violence and crime rates in the key areas chosen.
Findings
Community engagement and its relationship with crime and violence is an issue present not only
in Ciudad Juárez, but in many cities of the world as well. It is to be considered that addressing
these issues will have social, environmental, economic and urban repercussions, among others.
The GUDP team is addressing the finding of solutions for the city‘s current issues from the Urban,
Quality of Life, Economic and Environmental point of view. We believe that a smaller target area
(at a community scale) would be ideal in providing solutions that could potentially be
implemented throughout diverse areas of the city in the future. These interventions could be
developed at different scales:
- Macro (a large scale intervention in a particular area)
- Intermediate (An static intervention with the possibility of being implemented in different
areas)
- Micro (a small scale intervention to be easily replicated and spread throughout different
areas in the city)
Ideally, the intervention process would start at the city center, as part of recovering abandoned
spaces with great potential for development. This would also help restore the city‘s image (both
internally and externally) by bringing new life to what should be an geographic introduction to
Juárez. Having community engagement and safety as main priorities will help maintain focus on
what many citizens of Ciudad Juárez have lost through years of disorganized urban sprawl,
alarming crime rates and abandonment: Quality of Life.
5.2 Welfare
Background Information
This analysis starts with the need to understand how welfare is currently measured in Ciudad
Juarez, including the current indicators and key factors. This section identifies new subjective
values that should be considered in welfare for a broader research context.
According to José Garcia Vega, in his publication "Wellbeing and Quality of Life in Mexico"
2011, welfare is the set of factors a person needs for a good Quality of Life, such as health,
economy, education, safety, government, community engagement and state of mind. In Mexico
there are various indicators of living conditions which are separated into two categories of
analysis: gap analysis and achievements analysis.[9]
None of these analyses include subjective
indices for measuring comprehensive welfare:
• Marginalization Index
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• Social Gap Index
• Human Development Index
Briefly, the determinants of each welfare evaluation were education, housing and economics.
Data and Statistics
The latest study including welfare data is found in the Urban Development Plan 2010 by the
Municipal Institute of Research and Planning, IMIP.
With the information obtained from the National Institute of Statics and Geography (INEGI), each
of the areas of information was statistically proceeded to slice up the city in five different strata:
very low, low, average, high and very high.
• Overcrowding
• Percentage of illiteracy
• Grade average schooling
• Percentage with basic educational backwardness
• Percentage of population living in a dorm
• Percentage of population living in quarter
According to statistics, 58.1% of the population in Ciudad
Juarez has low levels of welfare mostly located on the
west (North West, South West) and Southeast. 9.64% has
an average level of welfare and finally 32.17% of the
population has high welfare levels mostly north and northwest of the city.45
According to the National Population Council (CONAPO) and the National Council for Assessing
Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), the marginalization46
and social47
backwardness
indexes, respectively observe that marginalized zones are mostly in zones with low and very low
level of welfare, focusing again on the west and southeast of the city. Taking the following factors:
1. Marginalization Index, CONAPO
a) Housing
b) Revenue per employee
c) Education
d) Distribution of population
2. Social Gap Index, CONEVAL
a) Assets at home
b) Educational
45
Data from: IMIP, Urban Development Plan, p. 112 46 Marginalization Index, CONAPO, 2010. 47 Social Backwardness Index, CONEVAL, 2010.
Source: IMIP with data from INEGI, 2005.
Figure 26: Levels of Funding
84
c) Access to health services
d) Access to social security
e) Quality and basic services
Key findings
Economy. We can see the highest income ranges are found in the north-east of the city, while
lower income ranges can be seen both in the south-east and the north-west and west side part.
(Figure 29)
Housing. In accordance to COLEF‘s research (Colegio de la Frontera Norte), the areas with high
housing backwardness (quality and spaces) are found in the north west, south west and southeast,
also indicate these areas have a low average income. (Figure 29)
Source: Social Gap Index, CONEVAL with INEGI, 2010.
Figure 28: Juarez metropolitan area. Level of urban
marginalization by Census Tract, 2010
Source: Social Marginalization Index, 2010, INEGI data, CONAPO 2010.
Figure 27: Level of social backwards, Municipal range,
2010
85
Education. The backwardness in social investment are reflected in educational conditions, where a
high part of the population, especially young people, are left behind and apart from the benefits
they need for their development. (Figure 6)
The urban facilities must be accessible to the entire city, regardless of welfare level. Currently
these facilities and equipment are concentrated in areas of the highest welfare. Currently these
facilities and equipment are concentrated in areas of the highest welfare. This could be
Source: Peña and Hernandez, 2012. Investigation of the multidirectional
Figure 29: Spatial distribution of average income, UTA
2010 Source: Fuentes, Peña and Hernandez, 2012. Investigation of the multidirectional poverty in Juarez
Figure 30: Backwardness of quality and living space
Source: Peña and Hernandez, 2012. Investigation of
the multidirectional poverty in Juarez
Figure 31: Uneducation of individuals over 15
years
86
accomplished through an ―urban acupuncture‖, coined by Jaime Lerner48, strategy to generate
viable and specific solutions that address specific local interests.
Health. Based on studies and data collection we can realize that 35% of the population doesn‘t
have access to any health service in Ciudad Juarez; because the resources available are not
necessary to ensure the provision of services efficiently and equitably. (Figure 32)
The central, south, and southeastern
areas of Ciudad Juarez have
marginalized and are poor populations
are at the highest risk of vulnerability
due to lack of access to health services
and social security. Therefore, access
to security is essential for good human
development and stable quality for
members of a society life. Without
security, these populations are at a
higher risk of accidents that will
negatively impact their health and
social security.
Preliminary conclusion
Based on the theoretical information and maps, we can deduce that the most vulnerable and
lagging areas are, in order, north-west, south-west and south east. Where we find these sectors are
most likely lacking too many
services. This happens due to
incomplete city growth, leaving
areas without services and quality
equipment. One possible solution
would be to create sub urban
centers linked together in strategic
areas with projects and
programs where they can support
the people of the affected areas.
By collecting data from different
geo statistical indices explained
previously the areas with lower
quality of life lags were identified,
highlighting the merge statistics
by population and critical ranges
of variables such as housing
quality, educational backwardness,
uninhabited housing, health,
average income, and levels of
social welfare; in each of these
48 Lerner, Jaime, Urban acupuncture, 2003.
Figure 32: Percentages of people entitled to social security
Figure 33: Social Welfare Critical Zones; Source: Own Elaboration using data from
COLEF, 2012, IMIP, 2010. “Population and Housing Census 20102”, INEGI.
87
Figure 34: Overall unemployment rate generally, 1992-2002; Source: Diagnosis geo-socio Ciudad Juarez and society by COLEF
areas area involved the historical and economic backgrounds, at the same time the urban character
such as: urban structure, equipment, land use and evolution of income. Finally identified four
critical areas in terms of Quality of life in Juarez; The area A includes the key neighborhoods:
Lomas de Poleo, Puerto Anapra, Felipe Angeles with features as Rugged topography, high urban
marginalization, average Housing without water and drainage system and high Measurement of
multidimensional poverty. The area B conformed by Plutarco Elias Calles, Guadalajara, Juarez,
Álvaro Obregón, Luis Echeverría, 16 de Septiembre, Barrio Alto, Downtown and López Mateos
with features as: Important for Integral Development, high urban marginalization , high health and
social security backwardness and very high social gap. The area C includes the key
neighborhoods: Panfilo, Libertad, Los Ojitos, featured by the high urban marginalization, high
uninhabited housing and a very high natural risk from flooding and landslides due to rain.
Finishing with the area D which is composed by the key neighborhoods: Lomas Del Valle,
Riveras del Bravo, Vista de Zaragoza, Portal del Valle characterized by Mass-housing building,
unfinished area due to the fast city growth, area with the highest number of uninhabited dwellings,
and low and / or bad infrastructure due to the huge distances and desert conditions. The
compilation of these areas will help to better identify possible areas to work together with the
previous topics implemented a strategy appropriate to the city.
5.3 Salary and Purchasing Power
Of all border cities, Ciudad Juárez has consistently had the lowest rates of unemployment since
the introduction of the maquiladora industry. Additionally, the average salary in Ciudad Juarez is
one of the highest in the country, as with other border or near cities to Mexico City49
.
Unemployment Rates from 1992 to 2002
49
COLEF: Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Observatorio de la coyuntura e económica fronteriza (2014). “Boletin No. 1”
88
Looking at the chart above, we realize that in the nineties, the unemployment rate in Ciudad Juárez
reaches its highest level in 1995, however since 2000, this indicator increased again, so that in
2002 resume the level shown in 1995. The result is related to the stagnation and retrogression that
had the maquiladora industry during those years.
But what happened to the workers' wages after unemployment? What purchasing power could
people have?
The minimum wage in the city has increased over time, given that in 1995, Juárez reached its
highest level of $ 20.15, $ 37.9 for 2000, $ 57.46 in 2010 and for the current year the latest studies
show that the wage level is now at $ 70.10. The wage has increased due to the change of peso
value and investment in the country. (See Annex 1)
In the following tables we can see an analysis according to hours worked and real wages earned
during 1990 and 2002. The table shows how the stages at lower working hours and income are
related to the crises of 1995 and 2002 already mentioned above.
Source: Diagnosis geo-socio Ciudad Juarez and society by COLEF
The map below shows the levels of welfare in Ciudad Juárez. It should be noted that having higher
levels of welfare does not mean you are in an area with all services and necessary infrastructure.
We can see that there is one specific area were welfare levels are higher, otherwise they are
scattered throughout the city. It should also be noted that the central area (geographically) is
where there is a slightly higher level of welfare homogenization.
The central area is where most living spaces were generated and people came to the center
(historic) for work. Furthermore, it is the best access to the maquiladora industry by proximity to
the international bridge.
89
Most of the maquiladora industry is located north of the city, near the historic center of Juarez in
the southwest, southern and southeastern areas, where most housing settlements were located.
However, with the map shown below we can see that the south (west and east) and northwest areas
are not close to the business areas, so the need for transport is important. Without transportation,
possibility of moving to jobs are slim and so individuals and families move closer to business
areas, increasing informal housing.
Not only does the distance from home to work affect the standard of living of a family. We must
ask: What affects the worker to get better sources of employment?
One aspect that creates a problem for employment is the level of education, skills and even
diversity of fields. Not only does lack of education deteriorate the family, foster unemployment,
and prevent individuals from seeking better wages; it also triggers problems such as creating the
need for a second mode of employment, informal work, and, therefore, the formation of social
disintegration.
The map below shows the location of elementary schools, as the basic level of education, one can
notice that most of the city has access to this level of education. However, the red areas are in need
of this type of service, leaving a portion of the north of the city, from the east, south, and
southwest with insufficient schools for the inhabitants to access elementary school.
90
It is estimated that children between 6 and 11 years of age are in grade school, and these are those
that enjoy this service. However, it is noted that there is a gap where 16% of children in this range
do not attend such institutions due to three factors: lack of equipment, economic failure to cover
registration or neglect from parents. (INEGI, 2000).
At the equivalent of middle school, which is locally known as Escuelas secundarias, the situation
becomes different. The map below shows that there are very few of these institutions in the city.
The spatial distribution we observe in the map shows that about 70% of the city has excellent
middle school coverage, while the remaining 30% is lacking of this service. (INEGI, 2000).
So, we can conclude that there is a healthy coverage of elementary schools in the city; however,
there are not enough middle schools to complete basic education throughout the city.
The educational gap creates negative consequence for the Juárez population. There are fewer
opportunities to search for formal work in the maquila sector or national companies.
The response and root problem would be in nongovernmental investment. To increase
opportunities of formal work, there should be less absence of schooling, increase in transportation,
increase of training programs, and more affordable cost of living standards to accommodate
insufficient minimum wage for household income.
91
Relationship between wages and income
Wages, income and purchasing power are mostly linked to the opportunity of education and
family income. These opportunities are also related to gender discrimination and discrimination
against different groups in society. This gradually generates social disintegration, especially in the
family structure, the role of women and education of children.
The following table shows some works by gender occupation in Ciudad Juárez.
Más destacadas 1995 2000 2002
Profesionistas 2.2 3.7 3.3
Comerciantes 11.1 9.8 10.9
Artesanos y fabriles 22.8 20.9 20
Jefes y supervisores 5.9 6.9 6.7 Source: Own calculations based on data from geo-socio-economic Diagnosis of Ciudad Juarez and society by COLEF (more detail see Appendix 2)
Lack of job training leads to unemployment. Additionally when an individual misses his/her
salary due to unemployment, the family must seek another income option, making it difficult to
count that income families actually have to survive.
One factor that is directly linked to family income are those goods and services which an income
can acquire. An example of this is the basic basket, which is a set of goods and services necessary
for a family to meet basic needs for consumption from income.
A study by the COLEF, seen in the following table, shows the money needed to feed a family of
four in different cities along the border. Ciudad Juarez is a regular minimal expense.
Figure 35: Monthly minimum required expenditure for an average household
Source: Diagnosis geo-socio Ciudad Juarez and society by COLEF
The minimum monthly expenditure required for a minimum basic food basket for a household
increased in Ciudad Juárez (7.2%) compared with a general of Mexico increased average spending
was only 3.8%.
92
Quickly calculating the monthly salary for a worker by multiplying 31 days (counting month has
more days) by the daily minimum wage of $ 70.10 will get $ 2173.1. This is about what is
required for a family of four to survive with just food basic. So, for a family to earn enough for
food and living expenses requires at least two members of the family must work to survive.
(According to the INEGI, see Annex 1).
Figure 36: Magnitude of Food Poverty
Figure 37: Intensity of Food Poverty
Source: Diagnosis geo-socio Ciudad Juarez and society by COLEF
In the above, and according to the analysis, the maps show that household income intersect with
where the highest incidence of food poverty is lie. We can see that in the western region, areas
where level of food poverty is present, especially in the areas closest to the Sierra de Juárez, as the
sector Rancho Anapra. By contrast, central Ciudad Juarez, where all services and largest
93
employment areas, there is no food poverty rates. So the food poverty is caused by job access,
wage income and purchasing power of the family.
Food is one of the main needs to be covered by a family to survive. The following table shows the
percentages of average wage income spent on minimum food expenditure per household between
border cities and the Federal District.
Figure 38; Percentage of Minimum Food Expenditure per Household
We can see in 2014 there was a great leap, increasing from 4.6 to 11.9%, for the percentage of
Cuidad Juarez‘s household income spent on food, which is a high percentage compared to other
cities.
In the map below, it can be seen that due to different factors causing deterioration in the standard
of living, the more marginalized areas in the city are located southwestern area of the city, totaling
to 27 census tracts that are marginalized.
94
Figure 39: Degree of Urban Marginalization
Source: Presentation by Dr. Alejandro Brugués for the IV Forum Seminar Selected Topics Titling.
In conclusion, it can be seen that each spatial map classification is dependent on the causes of
unemployment and there are similar results in the appearance of certain areas most affected.
The map below shows five zones which have the same difficulties in finding employment, lack of
equipment, services and / or skills.
95
Figure 40: Low Unemployment Areas, Critical Zones
Source: Prepared by Job Acevedo map based on data from INEGI, CONAPO, CONEVAL and COLEF 2010-2012.
These areas can be tapped within educational opportunities, technical expertise centers for adults,
implementation of formal jobs and equipment and infrastructure necessary for the development of
these proposed activities.
Attachments
Annex 1
Below is a table with the minimum wage increase, Ciudad Juarez is located within group A is
shown by classification CONASAMI
96
As of January 1993 pursuant to a Decree establishing a new monetary unit of the United States of
Mexico, published in the Official Journal of the Federation on June 22, 1992, there was creation of
the general minimum wage expressed in new pesos, which amounted to divide the old one
thousand pesos.
97
As of November 27, 2012, the geographic area B joins the geographic area A; while the
geographical area unmodified C retains its municipal and single integration and is renamed
geographic area B, according to the resolution published in the Official Journal of the Federation
on 26 November 2012. Source: National Commission on Minimum Wage.
Annex 2
98
5.4 Target Groups Identified
According to the National Development Plan50
(NDP), the concept of vulnerability is defined as
"the result of accumulated disadvantages and greater possibility of an injury resulting from a set of
social causes and some personal characteristics and/or cultural."
As it, the vulnerable groups identified are:
a) Ethnic groups
b) Migrants
c) Elderly
d) Persons with disabilities
e) Women
f) Children
g) Young people
As a result of the increased violence within the borders of Ciudad Juarez, there is a whole
generation of locals who know little else than the security issues within the city. For example, city
research has found that 40% of young males want to be professional killers and there are 10,000
orphans within the city borders51
. In addition to youth involvement in crime, reports of child abuse
and domestic violence have shown a prominent issue with family life violence. Included among
these statistics, women 15-19 years of age are most vulnerable to emotional and physical
violence. Statistics from these incidents show that women with more education are less
vulnerable. 52
5.5 Key Areas Identified
The following maps will be displayed with overlapping critical ranges identifying five areas with
critical level of welfare also characterizing each one.
50 National Development Plan, 2013-2018. 51
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/14/charles_bowden_murder_city_ciudad_jurez 52
http://incideprevencionviolencias.org/publicaciones/larealidadsoccdjuarez.pdf
99
100
Featuring this five final areas agree critical ranges:
AREA A.
Key Neighborhoods: Lomas de Poleo, Puerto Anapra, Felipe Angeles
101
Features:
Rugged topography
―High‖ Urban Marginalization Index
―Low‖ Backwardness Feeding
―Average‖ Housing without water and drainage
system
―High‖ Measurement of multidimensional
poverty.
AREA B.
Key Neighborhoods: Plutarco Elías Calles,
Guadalajara, Juarez, Álvaro Obregon
Features:
Share downtown city area
Important for Integral Development
―High‖ Urban Marginalization Index
―Low‖ Backwardness Feeding
―High‖ health and social security backwardness
―Very High‖ Multidimensional poverty measurement
―Very High‖ Social gap index
AREA C.
Key Neighborhoods: Los Ojitos, Libertad, Independencia I y II, Morelos, Galeana
Features:
―High‖ Urban Marginalization Index
―High‖ Multidimensional poverty measurement
―Very High‖ Backwardness Feeding
―High-Average‖ uninhabited housing index
―High-Average‖ Social gap index
―Very High‖ Natural risk from flooding and landslides
due to rain
AREA D.
Key Neighborhoods: Kilómetro 20, 27, 29, El Granjero
Features:
Semi-rural area
The locals are engaged mostly
rudimentary activities
― Very High‖ Urban
Marginalization Index
―Very High‖ Backwardness Feeding
102
―Very High‖ health and social security backwardness
―High‖ Measurement of multidimensional poverty
―Very High‖ Social gap index
AREA E.
Key Neighborhoods: San Isidro, Porvenir, Parajes del Sur, Riveras del Bravo, Zaragoza, Parajes
de San Isidro
Features:
Mass-housing building
Unfinished area due to the fast city growth
Area with the highest number of uninhabited
dwellings
―High‖ Measurement of multidimensional
poverty
―Very High‖ Social gap index
―Low and/or bad‖ Infrastructure due to the huge
distances and desert conditions.
―Very High‖ Backwardness Feeding
―Very High‖ health and social security
backwardness
Specific Neighborhood for Potential Design
With the increase of homicides during 2008 through 2010, many families and individuals left
Ciudad Juarez. This amounted to 25% abandoned homes and 4% closed businesses53
. Since those
years, there has been an increase in army patrols, arrests, and new schools that have aided the
effort to decrease violence within the city. Despite the efforts to decrease violence within the city,
the downtown business district is still void of businesses and continues to be home to highest
concentration of murders and violent activities.
Many city centers contain elements that can narrate its historic formation. In Ciudad Juárez, the
city center has been part of a worrying abandonment process due to many economic and social
factors, including an ongoing excessive territorial expansion that started in the past decades. Most
of the data gathered identifies the city center (located on the north-northwestern part of Juárez) as
an area with an alarming low level of quality of life and a great potential for intervention.
The area highlighted marks a community within the city center that has been studied by Luis
Herrera Terrazas from UACJ and currently consists of mostly abandoned houses. Nonetheless, it
is an area complete with a hospital, a fire station, two theaters, two churches, a park and public and
private schools, among others. Even though this community forms part of a very long list of
abandoned zones in Juárez, its key location also makes it stand out.
53
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/14/charles_bowden_murder_city_ciudad_jurez
103
By being located between two of the main roads
that cross the border to Texas, this area acts as a
gateway to the city. Today, the first impression
a visitor has of Ciudad Juárez when crossing the
frontier is coming face to face with abandoned
land. The different urban plans that have been
developed prove that the government
recognizes the value of recovering the use of
this land. It is time to find new solutions and put
them to the test.
104
6 Geospatial Analysis
In the previous sections four research areas are analyzed thoroughly to understand factors that
shape the city (urban planning, environmental risks, economic development, and quality of life).
Moving forward, these research areas are broken down to key indicators that evaluate quantitative
performance in the areas of housing, economy, environmental risks, security, education, health
and social welfare. These indicators are mapped using a geospatial methodology for identifying
critical areas to intervene. Through a geospatial analysis we can identify such critical areas as the
overlapping of multiple unhealthy indicators. Thus we can pinpoint the best areas to focus
intervention efforts, as well as understand the opportunities for nuclear development in the center
of the city and interconnected neighborhood centers.
According to Lerner (2003) for proper urban integration should include key concepts such as the
Urban Generosity, Continuity (consolidation), Identity and pedestrian prioritization.54
In order for
a viable urban structure over the existing frame is seeking to develop a methodology based on the
urban type "Star" (Figure 41); which suggests nucleus with linear axes and spaces linked to
different perceptions where local and area identity is evident in every part of development,
integrating the community from "the void space" as indicates Melvin Villarroel in his book
"Architecture of the Void" where the right to the city is achieved through the potential of public
space and interaction between people.
In this way and from urban theories implemented in places like Brazil, Spain, and Bolivia. By the
previous analysis the identification of three types of key spaces was achieved: Space Process,
Advanced Space and Space Proposal; respectively the city center, urban corridors Paseo Triunfo
de la Republica, Gomez Morin and Valle del Sol. (Figure 42) Making the connection area of
nuclear spaces by way of three key axes, obeying the theory of directionality of poverty and
violence, Luis Cervera (north west to south east). The ideal is that not happen with the
interventions as well as urban development, an unfinished way; to not complete a project and
starting another.
The historic center of the city is considered as a starting nucleus, interconnected with existing
corridors and three possible areas of intervention (Figure ) (AREA A: Guadalajara, Luis
Echeverría, and Zapata. AREA B: Los Ojitos, Galeana, Libertad, Panfilo, Aztecas and
Independence, finally AREA C: Northern Division, View of Zaragoza) which may be
interconnected to another set of nucleus in the future, generating interstitial spaces that promote
correct development of the city and the interaction of people in a supportive environment.
54
Lerner, Jaime, Urban Acupuncture, 2003.
105
Figure 41: "Star" Typology Charactization Cities
106
Figure 42: Critical Areas, Index Compilation, interaction of critical areas
107
Figure 43: Critical Areas, Index Compilation
108
109
110
7 Case Studies
7.1 El Paso, Texas: Economic Stability
Figure 44: El Paso Texas
El Paso Juarez
Population 582,952 1,300,000
Manufacturing Avg Hourly Wage (dlls) $13.98 $1.82
Unemployment Rate 7.70% 3.60%
Percentage of People Finishing High
School
73% 11%
GDP Per Capita $ 8,600 $ 33,800
Medium Household Income $ 40,974 $17,901
Issues and Goals
This case study is a comprehensive comparison of the economies of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez,
instead of a focused analysis on a particular problem they faced and the implemented solution. The
reason for such an approach is because one cannot talk about the economic development of one
city without considering that of the other: they are interdependent and share the same resources.
Therefore, by comparing both economies one can easily hypothesize the sources of differences
between them, and possibly solutions to improve one or the other.
Still, with all the similarities, the two cities are remarkably different, with El Paso being a much
safer and more developed city.
Education
In El Paso, education is a driving economic force, employing more than 19,000. The University of
Texas at El Paso has an annual budget of $250M, and is estimated to have resulted in a positive
economic impact of $349M to local businesses. The large investments in education, both private
111
and public are a key distinction between El Paso and Juarez. Whereas in Juarez the economy is
mainly driven by maquiladoras (60% of labor force), in El Paso we find that the institutions with
the largest amount of employees are schools and school districts, as shown in Table 9.
Table 9: El Paso largest employers by number of employees55
Largest County Employers Number of Employees
El Paso Independent School District 8,663
Fort Bliss (civilian employees) 6,803
Ysleta Independent School District 6,500
City of El Paso 6,264
University of Texas at El Paso 4,871
Socorro Independent School District 3,995
Sierra Providence Health Network 3,761
El Paso Community College 3,728
Wal-Mart 3,706
County of El Paso 2,700
Las Palmas and Del Sol Regional Health Care System 2,244
Echostar Satellite Corp. 2,012
Incentive Programs
The City of El Paso passed a Tax Abatement Policy to stimulate capital investment needed for
residential, retail, commercial, and industrial redevelopment within zones that are categorized as
Strategic Redevelopment Zones. Some of the programs apply to manufacturers, renewable energy
generation, software development, aircraft manufacturing, aerospace R&D, and film production.
At the state level, the Texas Enterprise Zone Program offers tax abatement at the local level, and
state sales refunds to businesses operating in enterprise zone areas. Another program, which
benefits employers, is the Texas Workforce Commission, in charge of administering the Skills
Development Fund (i.e. helps communities and colleges pay for job-training programs).
At the national level, El Paso is a designated United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development Empowerment Zone. This provides the city with special tax incentives and bond
provisions to incentivize private investment in housing development. Moreover, the Enterprise
Business Program and Micro-Loan Program both were created to assist new businesses with start-
up funding56
.
Development Projects
A ―Quality of Life Capital Improvements‖ plan was approved in 200 to span 10 years. It included
a $6.65M History Museum, a new zoo, and improvements to city parks and libraries. A project
that was completed in 2004 was Thomason Hospital, with an investment of $27.4M, which
generated 100 high-paying jobs. A list of other projects that were finished or started from 2005 to
2010 follows57
:
1. El Paso County Coliseum $9M renovations
55
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/44210876.pdf 56
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/44210876.pdf 57
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/44210876.pdf
112
2. The Dunes at Butterfield Trail Golf Course, budget of $63.4M
3. UTEP Construction Projects, budget of $50M
In Juarez, a systematic approach to the development of projects is lacking. An overarching entity
that performs feasibility and impact analyses, and oversees the development of projects is lacking.
In fact, in the entire Desarrollo Urbano (Urban Development) office in Juarez, up until last year
there were only two people in charge of overseeing the construction and development process of
projects that had been approved and funded.
Within the private realm, both El Paso and Juarez count with a private non-profit corporation that
is responsible for new business recruitment (El Paso Regional Economic Development
Corporation and Desarrollo Economico de Ciudad Juarez).
Healthcare
In Juarez, 52% of residents are enrolled in Seguro Popular. But it is not only Juarez residents that
access some sort of healthcare in the city. In fact, 49% of El Paso residents cross the border to buy
medication, 40% have crossed to visit the dentist, and 37% have crossed to get medical attention.
While they for the most part don‘t have access to public health services, they do have access to
cheaper prices than in El Paso. For instance, dental care is usually one third of the cost in Juarez.
Conversely, 5% of Juarez residents cross the border to buy medication.58
Figure 45: Healthcare
Chihuahua spends 14% of its public funding in health care, which amounts to 2% of the total GDP
of the city.59
Commerce and Trade
Over $40B in merchandise trade pass through El Paso per year. As far as exports go, El Paso ranks
24th in the US, with an annual value of $9.6B. From this, 78% goes to Mexico, which clearly
58
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/americans-are-getting-dental-care-on-the-cheap-in-
juarez/361727/ 59
http://www.elpasocountyhealth.org/sites/default/files/files/services/Community-Health-Data-
Statistics/AccesstoCare.pdf
113
points to the fact that its exports are mostly component parts and materials that are consumed by
the maquila sector.
Labor Force and Employment
The table below shows the number of employees by activity sector (except for agriculture). It can
be immediately observed that El Paso
Table 10: Number of Employees in El Paso and Juarez per economic sector60
El Paso Non-Agricultural
Employment
Number of
Employees
% of Total % of Non-
Agricultural
Juarez % of
Total
Construction & Mining 11,900 2% 4% 5%
Manufacturing 26,500 5% 10% 60%
Trade, Transportation and
Utilities
55,000 9% 22% 12%
Information 5,400 1% 3% 3%
Financial Activities 12,000 2% 5% -
Professional and Business
Services
25,000 4% 10% 13%
Educational and Health Services 28,000 5% 11% 5%
Leisure and Hospitality 23,500 4% 9% -
Other Services 7,500 1% 3% -
Government 59,500 10% 23% 1%
Total Size of Labor Force 254,900 44% 100% 99%
Discussion
From the Table 10 it is easy to see how distinct the economic profile is between Juarez and other
cities. Specially when compared to those across the border. The reason is obvious: cheap labor.
But only after half a century of the presence of maquiladoras in Juarez we are starting to
understand the implications of an economic base that relies on cheap wages, does not produce
local development, requires work schedules that damage families, and overall does not truly care
about social responsibility.
60
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/44210876.pdf, http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-South/El-Paso-
Economy.html
114
Figure 46: Economic differences between border cities61
But the differences between Juarez and El Paso extend far beyond their economic base. The
government structure is remarkably different. El Paso has a much more systematic and structured
way of procuring and developing projects, be it in the private or public realm. Not to mention the
fact that their level of accountability (particularly towards businessmen and people in office) is
much larger than in Juarez.
61
http://www.imip.org.mx/radio2014/2.-Radiografia_animacion_2013-2014.pdf
115
7.2 London, UK: Environmental Risk of Flooding
Figure 47: Top view of London
Figure 48: Locations of London and Juarez62
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topnews.in
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Table 11: Comparison of London and Juarez
London Juarez
Size, square miles (km2) 607 (1,570) 72.6 (188)
Population 8,420,000 1,320,000
Density, /square miles (/km2) 13,900 (5,350) 18,200 (7,030)
Maximum Monthly Precipitation, in.
(mm)
2.70 (68.5) 2.00 (50.7)
Annual Precipitation, in. (mm) 24 (600) 10 (260)
Issue and Goal
The issue that the case study addresses here is the surface water flooding challenge due to
inconsistent historical records and the uncertainty of the magnitude and frequency of rainfall
events. The flooding nature here is similar to that of Juarez where water is unable to infiltrate into
the ground or enter a drainage system. The main method for removing surface runoff is by
combined sewer drainage system where rainwater and sewage is served by a singles sewer and the
discharged overflow, in turn, is contaminated by sewage.
Figure 49: Area at risk of surface flooding
The goal is to increase the resistance and resilience of a target area in London to flooding. Where
flood resistance is the process of preventing flood water from entering buildings and spaces, and
117
flood resilience is the process of designing buildings and spaces so that if flooding occurs it
creates minimal damage and enables rapid recover. Examples of flood resistance include
techniques such as: air brick covers, sandbags, flood boards, non-return valves, barriers, and the
incorporation of sustainable urban drainage. Examples of flood resilience include methods such
as: understanding the risk, raising awareness, Business Continuity Plans, weather warning
services, and ensuring premises.63
Approach and Results
In this section, describe how Case Study 1 actually tried to implement solutions and whether they
were successful or not.
The City of London Corporation research: initial assessments identified that local
mitigation projects would be ineffective in preventing flooding. Projects would need to
cover a wider area.
Focusing on resistance and resilience measures to lower the impacts of flooding
Flood resistance and resilience project
Development of guidance and recommendation for sustainable long term management of
flooding
Sustainable urban design systems
Climate change adaptation strategy
Drain London Forum: areas at risk were identified and the public awareness of the risk was
ameliorated
The consideration of flood risk for future urbanization and development. This is an
ongoing process where constant and sustained local stakeholders involvement is essential.
One example is the City of London School. They increased their resistance by two approaches.
One approach is that the school got an access to an electric waste water sump pump in case if
surface water enters the building. Another approach is by designing the basement such that is not
deep in relation to the street level topography. They increased their resilience by eight
approaches: (1) having a Business continuity plans which are exercised and reviewed on regular
basis; (2) implementing evacuation measures; (3) communicating to parents, and insuring updated
contact details and methods; (4) having plans for children working from home in case they cannot
get to the school; (5) insuring computer network is backed up on daily basis by implementing a
secondary data system; (6) insuring a good monitoring of weather and communication of actions;
(7) implementing a back-up generator in case that surface water flooding may affect power supply;
(8) implementing an flood alarm (drain surcharge) system.
Conclusion
In the case study the historical flooding events were overlooked, the reasoning behind that, is that
past flooding events are not the best indicator of future flooding events due to non-organized
recording of historical flood events and the climate change that imposes high uncertainties. This is
a reasonable claim that could be followed with Juarez where only recent and current flood events
63
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/sustainability/climate-
change/Documents/surface-water-flooding-case-study-report.pdf (more detailed examples of approach could also be
found in section 3of this case study)
118
data could be used to project for the future and implement some of the strategies the City of
London did to mitigate the risk of flood.
It is good to keep into account that flood risks are associated with watersheds (catchments) which
extend well beyond the city that is to resolve the issue the whole area should be addressed.
There are many specific case studies that could be found in the above reference. These case
studies give a better and a detailed approach of how to go about increasing the resistance and the
resilience of the flood risk through different examples of businesses, home owners, schools,
government buildings, and many others. Some of these approaches could be ideal to implement in
the Juarez case to increase the flood resistance and resilience for the city.
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7.3 Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Environmental Risks and the Urban Poor
Figure 50: Two different aerial views of Dar Es Salaam
Figure 51: Maps showing location of Dar Es Salaam and Juarez64
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Table 12: Comparison of Dar Es Salaam and Juarez
Dar Es Salaam Juarez
Size, square miles (km2) 614 (1,590) 72.6 (188)
Population 4,360,000 1,320,000
Density, /square miles (/km2) 7,110 (2,740) 18,200 (7,030)
Maximum Monthly Precipitation, in. (mm) 11.4 (290) 2.00 (50.7)
Annual Precipitation, in. (mm) 42 (1,100) 10 (260)
Natural Hazards
Earthquake NO YES
Floods and Inundations YES YES
Drought YES YES
Landslide YES YES
Extreme Temperature YES YES
Significant Floods (year) 1983,
1989,1995,1997,1998,
2002, 200665
2006, 2008
They are both in the top 100 fastest growing cities and urban areas from 2006 to 2020, Dar Es
Salaam with 4.4% and Juarez with 2.5% projected growth.66
Issue and Goal
The issue that the case study addresses here is the poor infrastructure of the city and the rapid
population growth (8 percent per year) such that the city and municipal authorities face significant
challenges in terms of providing new or maintaining existing infrastructure and services. The
target goals were (1) to identify the main aspects of the urban poor of the city‘s vulnerability, (2)
to investigate climate change impact on this vulnerability, (3) to develop policies and programs
that could reduce the vulnerability of the poor.
Approach and Results
By an assessment of Dar Es Salaam that lead to the following key findings:
Rapid unplanned urbanization in Dar es Salaam has led to flood risk in many informal
settlements, with a wide range of associated health and other problems for residents
Disaster risk management has not been addressed and needs to be integrated in all
aspects of urban planning in Dar es Salaam
The ecological and hydrological role of wetlands is not well understood or incorporated in
urban development planning
The sustainability of infrastructure development initiatives and their maintenance is poor
Coordination among local stakeholders is needed
Industries need to be relocated away from residential areas and will require access to a
waste stabilization pond. 67
Current Efforts and Results
65
Provided by Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), 2010 66
http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/urban_growth1.html 67
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/336387-
1306291319853/CS_Dar_Es_Salaam.pdf
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Rehabilitation of storm water drainage and sewage system: Improvements were undertaken
by city authorities in the city center. However, a new wave of investment has led to
construction of new structures in former empty spaces, including the construction of
multiple‐use buildings that have increased demands for water supply and enlarged high‐capacity sewage pipes.
Property formalization, where the government is implementing a project to identify all
properties in informal settlements and at the same time issuing land/property licenses or
Right of Occupancy to curb further densification of those areas and to improve security of
tenure, which could be uses as collateral for economic empowerment(URT 2004 in: Kyessi
and Kyessi, 2007)
The country has strengthen multi-lateral relations at the international level in order to
enhance the ability to cope with climate change and variability for sustainable livelihood.
That helps in better planning and forecasting, and raising awareness among the public on
climate change impacts, adaptation measures and mitigation.
Conclusion
From this case study it can be concluded that in order to make reliable changes, programs has to
be implemented to start working on effective measures and to raise awareness among the public.
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7.4 Mexico City, Mexico: Environmental Risk of Air Pollution
Figure 52: Top view of Mexico City
Figure 53: Locations of Mexico City and Juarez68
Table 13: Comparison of Mexico City and Juarez
Mexico City Juarez
Size 1,485 km2 188 km²
Population 8,850,000 1,320,000
Density 6,000/km2 7,030/km
2
GDP by sector Agriculture:3,6%
Industry:36,6%
Services:59,8%
Agriculture:4%
Industry:26,6%
Services:69,5%
68
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Issue and Goal
In 1992 Mexico City was the most polluted city in the world. High ozone levels were thought to
cause 1000 deaths and 35000 hospitalizations a year.
Greatest source of pollution is vehicle emissions. Plan for the near future is to build a $9.3 billion
plant to produce low-sulfin fuel these fuels would enable vehicles to have advanced particulate
filters (these are necessary to get the most out of ultra-low sulfur fuels), resulting in a 90 percent
reduction of particulate matter The main goal is to reduce the city‘s air pollution and cut most of
its pollutants at least by half.
Approach and Results
Approach:
- Series of comprehensive programmes – named ProAire
- Closing the city´s most polluting factories
- Banning cars one day per week in the city´s metropolitan area
- A suburban train system is to replace hundred of thousands of vehicles
- BRT Metrobus system launched in 2005-low-emission Metrobus system-hybrid buses
- Replaced the city´s soot-belching old cars,removed lead polluters from gasoline,embraced
natural gas,expanded public transportation,and relocated refineries and factories
Results:
- The city recently recorded a 7.7m tonnes reduction in carbon emissions in just four years
(2008 to 2012)
- The preserve of lead in the air had dropped by 90% since 1190
- Suspended particles-pieces of dust,soot of chemicals that lodge in lungs and cause
asthma,emphysema or cancer-have been cut 70%
- Ozone levels have dropped 75% since 199269
Conclusion
Mexico City and Juarez are not comparable by population or size,but they are in the same
country,so have same laws.Mexico City records growth in many aspects of pollution in last 20
years and they have good plans for the future.The same politics can be applied on Juarez.Juarez is
smaller city and I think it`s easier to make changes in such a city.
69
http://www.mexicocityvibes.com/air-pollution-in-mexico-city/
http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=740
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033103614.html
http://cityclimateleadershipawards.com/mexico-city-proaire/
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amaxwell/the_solution_to_mexicos_air_po.html
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7.5 Tijuana, Mexico: Environmental Risk of Flooding
Figure 54: View of Tijuana
Figure 55: Locations of London and Juarez
Table 14: Comparison of Tijuana and Juarez
Tijuana Juarez
Size, square miles (km2) 637 188
Population 1,560,000 1,320,000
Average Annual Precipitation
(mm)
239 255
Heaviest rains (year) 1983,1993,1998 2006, 2008
125
Economic Cost, year ($Millions) 1998 ( 1,280) 2007 (400)70
Issue and Goal
Tijuana Baja California has a history of past rains that its annual average rainfall; have played a
determining role of urban and social history of the city. One problem that has arisen due to rain is
the settlement on higher ground. (Rodriguez, 2006)
Because of these problems of flooding has some similar to Ciudad Juarez features, their method to
infiltrate the water in storm drains and in addition to like a dam (Diques)to contain the water.
With the problem of rain Tijuana has implemented throughout its history different methods to
prevent and control caused by heavy rain disaster, for example channeling the Tijuana River.
Goal
The aim of these works and sewer cleaning programs was to prevent overflows resulting bringing
the eviction of the surrounding areas. (Rodriguez, 2006). In addition to implementing rescue
people from the affected areas, and resources for shelter and food for people.
Approach and Results
To avoid flooding problems have taken preventive measures and implementation programs:
Creating a program called Stormwater Maintenance order to avoid problems of flooding
and pollution, is to clean the sewers of the city and maintain stormwater channels, tanks,
sand traps, etc.
Construction Stormwater channels in 2014 to avoid flooding problems in areas of greatest
danger. (Crespo, 2014)
There are 38 streams channeled rainwater system with 21 sand traps, which prevent
clogging floodgates of Rio Tijuana, caused by trawling the waters with debris, rubbish and
sand (Crespo, 2014).
Like Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez has implemented its action measures and research to improve the city
and its stormwater infrastructure
Ciudad Juárez:
Proposed design of a sewer research project Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez
(UACJ) (Martínez Rico, Hernández, Romero, & Maldonado, 2013)
Channeling the drain 2-A, target capture and drivability grant stormwater generated, as
well as provide an alternative to the evacuation of water. (CONAGUA, 2011).
Conclusion
Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, both are part of the northern border of Mexico that have been affected
at different times by heavy rains, sharing certain similarities of these incidents.
• At both sites the DN III plan was implemented as a result of the rains
70
Héctor Murguía reported that an investment of 400 million pesos is required to repair dams and streams of the city.
126
Ciudad Juarez (2008) was applied because the storm water I cause a rupture of a dam so that the
area was flooded.
Ciudad Juarez (2013) was applied after two days of rain, record accumulation of water (1.4 mm)
surpassed the limit on the first night (24 mm) (Noticias, 2013).
Tijuana (1998): Heavy rains during the winter, there were casualties.
• Both sites are exposed to floods
Ciudad Juarez: The heavy rains that occurred in 2006 led to the collapse of the drainage system
and some dikes, along with the overflow of the river Bravo and rainy summer 2008 occurred
mainly affecting the southeast area known as the Barreal. (Morales, Rodríguez, & Sánchez, 2013)
Tijuana: There are very poor families occupying slopes with a steep slope and / or bottom of
canyons, which exposes them to flash floods. (Rodríguez, 2013).
Both cities have the problem of flooding due to heavy rains that occur, but both cities have taken
precautionary measures and action to prevent these risks from flooding, Tijuana has a maintenance
program to rain, I think it could be implemented as action in Ciudad Juarez for greater
performance would be great storm drains to prevent flooding problems in certain areas of Ciudad
Juarez.
They are areas that can be compared because both are part of the northern border of Mexico and
are tourist areas, where large concentrations of people who are affected by these issues risks are
reflected in their quality of life and also have focus had similar problems.71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80
71
CONAGUA. (2011). Obras hidraulicas para control de inundaciones Dren 2-A. Retrieved from
http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-11/documents/obras_dren_2-a_dg_180413.pdf 72
Crespo, K. G. (2014, Septiembre 29). Construyen tres pluviales por próximas lluvias en Tijuana. Retrieved from
Zeta Tijuana: http://zetatijuana.com/noticias/ezenario/10381/construyen-tres-pluviales-por-proximas-lluvias-en-
tijuana 73
Martínez, M., Rico, L., Hernández, J. G., Romero , J. G., & Maldonado , A. M. (2013). Propuesta de diseño de una
alcantarilla para disminuir las obstrucciones por residuos solidos. Culcyt//Tecnología, 1-13. 74
Morales, S. C., Rodriguez, M. S., & Sanchez, E. F. (2013). Seguridad urbana y vulnerabilidad social en Ciudad
Juárez. Un modelo desde la perspectiva de análisis espacial. Frontera Norte, 28. 75
Noticias, G. G. (2013, Septiembre 12). Noticieros GarzaLimonn. Retrieved from Aplican Plan DN-III por lluvias en
Ciudad Juárez: http://www.noticiasggl.com/nacional-general/aplican-plan-dn-iii-por-lluvias-en-ciudad-juarez/ 76
Rodríguez , J. E. (2013). Elementos para la construcción social del riesgo climático en el noroeste de México: el
caso de las lluvias en Tijuana, Baja California. In M. Goloubinoff, & E. Katz , Aires y Lluvias, antropología del clima
en México (pp. 591-614). Centro de estudios mexicanos y centroamericanos. 77
Rodríguez , J. E. (2006). La conformación de los ―desastres naturales‖,Construcción social del riesgo y variabilidad
climática en Tijuana Baja California. 78
Norlang , N. A., Marin, R. C., & Mendez, K. E. (2007).Características de las intensas precipitaciones registradas de
julio a septiembre en el municipio de Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua. Características e impactosocioeconómicoo de los
Principales desastres ocurridos en la República Mexicana en el 2006, 21-44.
79
Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL), I. M. (2010). Atlas de Riesgos. Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. 80
Ochoa, L. E., & Romo, M. d. (2014). La incorporacion tardia del riesgo natural en el diseño y aplicacion de los
instrumentos de regulacion urbana en Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. In Migracion, Urbanizacion y medio ambiente en la
Region paso del Norte (pp. 109-138). Colegio de la Frontera Norte A.C.
127
7.6 Santiago, Chile: Water Supply
Figure 56: Top view of Santiago
Figure 57: Locations of Santiago and Juarez81
Table 15: Comparison of Santiago and Juarez
Santiago Juarez
Size, square miles (square kilometers) 74.9 (194) 72.6 (188)
Population 5,150,000 1,320,000
Density per square mile (per square kilometer) 17,421 (6,726) 18,200 (7,030)
Portion of people with water access 96% 97%
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Average water use/water efficiency (L/capita/day) 183 300
Issue and Goal
A major challenge for Santiago, Chile, is balancing the interaction between its water supply and
environment. Santiago is situated in a semi-arid climate like that of Juarez, yet Santiago readily
has access to enough water to meet the water demand of its 5.1 million residents from both surface
water from the Maipo River and groundwater from the Upper Santiago Valley aquifer.82
However,
interest in hydroelectric power as well as vulnerability for landslides threatens the water resources
of the Maipo River.83,84
The goal for Santiago is to ensure a sustainable future water supply. Despite being situated in a
climate that is typically prone to severe water shortages, the large quantities of runoff from the
Andes Mountains provide Santiago more water than current demand. This knowledge has led to
largely avoidable pollution and manipulation of surface water sources.
Approach and Results
Approach:
· Movement by Aguas Andinas to improve cleanliness of Mapocho River for future use
(2007)85
· Opening of Mapocho wastewater treatment plant (2010)86
· Protests to prevent development of hydroelectric plant on Maipo River and preserve its water
resources (2014)
Results:
No significant results have been achieved. There have been multiple protests calling for the
preservation of the Maipo River, and while the opening of the Mapocho WWTP has helped
Santiago reach 100% wastewater treatment, no significant improvements have been made to the
polluted state of the Mapocho River to date.87
Conclusion
While Santiago does not show a problem with water supply, it does show the initiative with
regards to activism with the intention to influence policy that could protect its water resources. It
also shows the necessity for incentive to create significant improvements to water quality of
potential resources, as there is no real incentive to clean the Mapocho River.
82
Muñoz, José F., Bonifacio Fernández, and Cristián Escauriaza. "Evaluation of groundwater availability and
sustainable extraction rate for the Upper Santiago Valley Aquifer, Chile." Hydrogeology Journal 11.6 (2003): 687-
700. 83
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-21148402 84
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/alto-maipo-project-endangers-santiago-water-supply/ 85
http://web.archive.org/web/20080625052217/http://www.revistabit.cl/pdf/44-47.pdf 86
http://water.worldbank.org/sites/water.worldbank.org/files/4.%20Bartone%20Santiago_0.pdf 87
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapocho_River
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7.7 Montevideo, Uruguay: Water Supply
Figure 58: Top view of Montevideo
Figure 59: Locations of Montevideo and Juarez88
88
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Table 16: Metric Comparison of Santiago, Chile and Cd. Juarez, Mexico
Montevideo Juarez
Size, square miles (square kilometers) 74.9 (194) 72.6 (188)
Population (millions of people) 5.15 1.32
Density per square mile (per square kilometer) 17,421 (6,726) 18,200 (7,030)
Portion of people with water access 96% 97%
Average water use/water efficiency (L/capita/day) 183 300
Issue and Goal
In Montevideo, a considerable issue facing the water supply was poor service quality and
overcharging. Montevideo has plenty of water resources but a major problem was delivering these
resources because of private concessions. Juarez has a similar problem with water infrastructure,
with leaky water lines that cause water loss, yet the repair of these lines is quite slow because of
budget constraints.
The goal in Montevideo once good water infrastructure was established was to ensure quality
water at normal prices. In Juarez, the primary goal would be repairing pipelines and ensuring a
good water access all over city.
Approach and Results
Approach:
· Campaign against private concessions
· Parliament passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting any form of private sector
participation in the water sector (2004)
· Government passed law for improving the effective participation of users and civil society in
planning, management and control of activities in the sector (2005)
· Government started buying shares of private company (2006)
· The company became 100% owns by the state (2009)
Results:
Administration de las Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE), the state-owned national utility provides
water and sewer services to all Uruguay. The only exception is Montevideo, where the
municipality provides sewage, however water services are provided by OSE in Montevideo also.
There have also been established new institutions that take care of quality of service..
Conclusion
Uruguay doesn‘t really have problems with water supplies but it did have problems with water
services. The government took matters into their own hands and solved the problem in a few
years. Today Uruguay is considerate the only country in Latin America with safe drinking water
supply coverage throughout country. A good water infrastructure would be beneficial in case of
Juarez and Montevideo could be a good example in achieving that.89
89
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources_management_in_Uruguay
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7.8 Palermo, Italy: Organized Crime
Figure 60: Palermo, Italy
Figure 61: Maps showing location of Palermo and Juarez
Table 17: Comparison of Palermo and Juarez
Palermo, Italy Juarez
Size 61.34 mi^2 72.59 mi^2
Population 650,000 1,300,000
Distance to Capital 266 miles 964 miles
http://www.bnamericas.com/features/waterandwaste/uruguays-montevideo-looks-for-alternative-water-sources-as-
farming-boom-contaminates-its-rivers
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/Rodriguez_thesis.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Uruguay
http://server.cocef.org/CertProj/Spa/BD%202009-
31%20Juarez%20Sur%20Sur%20_WWTP_%20Certification%20Doc%20_Span_.pdf
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Population that left 10,000 40,000
Organized Crime Mafia, Cosa Nostra Drug Cartel, Sinaloa
Issue and Goal
Palermo, Italy is a frontier city between Northern Africa and Southern Italy. As a border city. with
an unemployment rate of 22% and crumbling infrastructure there are striking similarities between
Palermo and Ciudad Juarez. With its strategic position, Palermo has been host to numerous
transient leaders from Europe, Africa and Middle East. After World War II, Palermo became
home to Cosa Nostra, an infamous arm of the Italian Mafia. Cosa Nostra handled the organized
crime in Palermo through economic activity, theft, control of wholesale market, and migration
trafficking. Instead of suppressing the Mafia, Palermo‘s government cooperated with Cosa
Nostra. With the rise of Fascism and the war against the Mafia, the Mafia bosses started to take a
―position of protecting their own power, and accepted the leadership of the Fascist party‖90
. Cosa
Nostra has been successful at maintaining its membership base as an elitist group, heirs of the
ancient secret society of Beati Paoli, ―established to avenge the abuse endured by the poor‖. As
part of their influence, Cosa Nostra developed the skeleton suburbs in the 1980s without public
spaces, shops, or transportation links to the city center. This increased the feelings of insecurity;
and due to the violence in the city, there has been an exodus of 10,000 residents within the last 10
years91
. The goal for the city was to increase Palermo‘s international reputation and become less
violent.
Approach and Results
In 1993, Mayor Leoluca Orlando led a campaign to revive the city center and improve Palermo‘s
international image. During the following years, Bernardo Provenzano, as the Mafia boss of Cosa
Nostra, ushered in a less violent era. Known as pax-mafiosa, this period had less violence and
Provenzano ran the Mafia very efficiently without many overt operations. Between 1993 and
2006, the city began to improve. Additionally, the government worked with grassroots
organizations to help reduce crime. Although Moody‘s rated the city with a Aa3 rating for bonds,
the Quality of Life rating placed Palermo 100 among 103 cities92
. In 2000, the UN conference
was hosted in Palermo and nearly $60 million dollars was invested in infrastructure reparations.
Six years later, the wage against the Mafia in Palermo had success in arresting Bernardo
Provenzano and other heads of Cosa Nostra families to weaken the Mafia.
Conclusion
A commitment from the government to reduce crime through ending organized crime efforts and
the Mafia‘s influence in government and the economy was successful at leading Palermo into a
new era of Quality of Life. In many ways, Palermo and Juarez are similar. They are both border
cities with pressure from neighboring countries and cultures that facilitate illegal markets.
Additionally, both cities are geographically removed from the capital city of their respective
countries. As violence has increased in both areas, younger generations have left and
infrastructure has become run-down. Coupling policing efforts with city center revitalization has
been successful for reducing crime and increasing quality of life.
90
From Palermo to Ciudad Juarez: Organized Crime in Italy and Mexico in Comparative Perspective (Fabio Armao,
University of Turin, Italy, September 2-5, 2010) American Political Science Association 91
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/jamie-mackay/palermo-is-laboratory-for-precariat 92
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/13/world/palermo-shows-off-as-a-cleaned-up-mafia-capital.html
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7.9 Sao Paulo, Brazil: Urban Slum Communities
Figure 63: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Figure 62:Maps showing locations of Sao Paulo and Juarez
134
Table 18: Comparison of Sao Paulo and Juarez
Sao Paulo, Brazil Juarez
Size 588 mi^2 72.59 mi^2
Population 11,000,000 1,300,000
Live in slums 33% 38%
Issue and Goal
During the 1980s, Sao Paulo, Brazil began an era of rapid urbanization. At the same time that the
population started to grow, Sao Paulo crime rates began to climb and murder among 15-24 year
olds, especially escalated93
. Areas that were comprised of poorer demographics saw the most
crime. Even though Sao Paulo is the richest state in Brazil, the poorer areas are those located far
from the city center. Cidade Tiradentes is the largest housing development in Latin America that
has been labeled the worst place to live in Sao Paulo because of the violence, distance to city
center, limited public investment in urban infrastructure, and dilapidated economic growth.
Approach and Results
To address urban degeneration and violence in the city, the government aimed crime intervention
through policy and increasing the understanding of public and private spaces. Aided by state
interventions such as the improvement of management policies (including an electronic database
for police to produce overall mapping of crime statistics) there has been an increase in
investigative police activity, more community engagement in most violent areas, deduction of
firearms, and even an increase in evangelism in suburbs. One of the major interventions was the
Tiradentes Bus terminal construction in Cidade Tiradentes. This improved access, limited
isolation, increased private investments, increase shopping areas, chain stores, and enhanced the
social fabric of the areas. As part of this urban regeneration, 160 public areas were recognized for
land regulation program called Birro Legal Program providing new infrastructure, schools,
markets, hospitals94
.
Conclusion
The government approached the crime issues in Sao Paulo from two directions. In addition to the
urban development and social programs to help promote community and safety within isolated
regions, there were also initiatives to increase policing. The influence of community engagement
at the city level was able to help achieve a lower violence level and help the city regain its identity.
The connection between the outskirts of the city (Cidade Tiradentes) with the city center via
public transportation was a huge factor in the future success of the city, as well as the efforts to
provide Cidade Tiradentes with better infrastructure95
.
93
http://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/safe-spaces-in-sao-paulo/en-gb/ 94
http://www.alternativas.osu.edu/en/issues/spring-2014/visual-culture/hikiji-caffe.html 95
http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/no-excuses-slum-upgrading
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7.10 Cape Town, South Africa: Violence Prevention
Figure 64: Cape Town, South Africa
Figure 65: Maps showing Cape Town and Ciudad Juarez
Table 19: Comparison of Cape Town and Ciudad Juarez
Cape Town, South Africa Ciudad Juárez, México
Size 154.55 mi^2 72.59 mi^2
Population 3,750,000 1,300,000
World City Ranking
(Most Violence)
20 37
Murders per 100,000
residents
50.94 37.59
Issue and Goal
Before the establishment of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa. Being
the first European establishment in the country, the city quickly became an economic and cultural
136
landmark in the 17th Century. Comparable to Ciudad Juárez in recent years, Cape Town has
struggled with high levels of crime, especially gang-related violence. According to Cape Town
resident and journalist Cath Everett, ―Most of the victims come from deprived, low-income areas,
with residents – and in particular, young black men – living in local townships such as Mitchell's
Plain and Khayelitsha suffering disproportionately‖96
. Contrary to Juárez, the murders in Cape
Town, named the 20th
most violent city in the world as of 201497
, tend to be more localized.
Approach and Results
National, Western Cape provincial and Cape Town local governments have been aware for a long
time of the challenges of high levels of crime and have started to adopt counteracting policies like
National Crime Prevention Strategy (1996), White Paper on Safety and Security (1999-2004),
Urban Renewal Program (1999), Cape Flats Renewal Strategy (1999), Cape Town City
Improvement Districts, Community Safety Forums, Community Policing Forums, etc.98
As a
community safety strategy, the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Project was
established in 2006. Starting with the community of Khayelitsha, the program has already started
to implement strategies for crime reduction through environmental design. By creating public
spaces with good lighting and visibility, maintaining a positive image throughout common spaces,
creating easy access routes, integrating public activities and surveillance and working on
developing a sense of pride and ownership, VPUU has already helped thousands of people gain a
sense of security on four suburbs in Khayelitsha.
Conclusion
A compromise between the government and an affected community is a key factor in finding
viable solutions to improve quality of life. Design has proven to be an effective method for
tackling problems regarding violence and lack of community engagement. Nonetheless, it takes a
continuous effort (from both the community and the aiding organizations involved) to figure out
what works best for achieving the set goals. Like Cape Town, Ciudad Juárez has succeeded in
identifying crime and violence as critical issues to be addressed. There are many communities
similar to Khayelitsha in Juárez that could benefit from tackling said problems through innovative
ideas, with environmental design as a vehicle.
96
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/my-south-african-adventure-keeping-murder-family-1432577 97
http://www.702.co.za/articles/846/50-most-violent-cities-on-earth-joburg-isn-t-there-3-other-sa-cities-are 98
http://www.vpuu.org.za/
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7.11 Medellin, Colombia: Social Urbanism
Figure 66: Medellin, Colombia
Figure 67: Maps showing location of Medellin and Juarez
Table 20: Comparison of Medellin and Juarez
Medellin Juarez
Size-City 147 mi^2 73 mi^2
Population-City 2,441,123 1,321,004
Population-Metro 3,731,447 2,539,946
Median Household
Income
$40,974 $21,060
Unemployment Rate 10.80% 3.60%
Issue and Goal
Medellin was once known as the most violent city in the world with a murder rate of 380 per
100,000 people, mostly due to drug wars between cartels. After the death of Escobar, crime rates
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in the city began decreased more than 80%. Partly it‘s a success of many implemented plans to
integrate the poorest and most violent hillside neighborhoods into the city Centre in the valley
below. Targeted goal were: remodeling transportation, education, social programs and raise
participatory budgets.99
The main operational instrument is the ―Integral Urban Project‖ (IUP). It is designed and
implemented by the Medellin Urban Development Enterprise, which has both sizeable resources
and all the levers of public action, allowing it to conduct coherent and large-scale urban
operations.
The planning strategy taken by early 2000s Medellin mayor, Sergio Fajardo, has been described as
―social urbanism,‖ which was ―supported by the discourse of paying off the city‘s historical debt
to the long-abandoned poor sectors, it involved shifting substantial public investment to those
sectors in the form of infrastructure, public buildings and services, and urban space and
environmental improvements. Much of this investment came in the form of ―urban acupuncture‖,
IUPs serving as neighborhood intervention plans in that area from of ―highly participatory and
contextualized slum upgrading.100
Approach and Results
The IUP incorporates all elements of development in a planned and simultaneously with the active
participation of the community territory. The projects are located in neighbourhoods of origin
marginal with deep problems of inequality and violence. The strategy of these projects starts with
building in the middle of the community, a centre of collective activities, a park or plaza that
includes multifunctional equipment.101
Access to basic services
Health Facilities (Equipamientos de Salud) Designed by the Urban Development
Corporation (EDU), are dedicated to providing access to quality health care for
everyone.102
Security Facilities (Equipamientos de Seguridad) Under Mayor Alonso Salazar, nine CAI
Periféricos — small and informal security facilities strategically located in peripheral areas
of the city. They were built from 2008 – 2011. 103
Youth Gardens (Jardines Infantiles) are public structures. Integrating pre-school education
at a familial level, they employ and train local mothers and turn them into qualified
teachers, bringing social equity through education.104
99
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/apr/17/medellin-murder-capital-to-model-city-miracle-un-world-urban-
forum, http://www.laciudadviva.org/recursos/documentos/B1_Medellin.pdf,
http://www.metrosalud.gov.co/inter/joomla/index.php/noticias/623-en-el-diamante-un-equipamiento-de-salud-para-la-
proteccion-de-la-vida, http://www.archdaily.com/223110/cai-perifericos-edu/ 100
http://modaenlaciudad.com/fashion/index.php/fashion-news/destinos-magico/item/92-jard%C3%ADn-infantil-
buen-comienzo-castilla-pedregal-medell%C3%ADn-colombia-%7C-colombiamoda-2012 101
Gerard Martin interview, Cityscope.org 102
Brand, Governing Inequality in the South Through the Barcelona Model 103
Calderon, Learning from Slum Upgrading and Participation 104
http://architectureindevelopment.org/news.php?id=49
139
Commute times
The transportation strategy integrated a series of smaller transportation infrastructure projects that
connected with existing streets and roads, creating a series of walkable and interconnected
communities, each containing a number of transportation options. In the early 2000′s the metro
system was expanded to include gondola lift services that connect informal mountainside
settlements to the larger transportation network.
Green spaces
Library Parks are series public libraries that offer educational tools and programs to benefit the
local communities, as well as providing a hub for further urban development and green projects.
They were created through a series of architectural competitions, and the designs ―stand out in
their scale, form, materials and colour, and announce state presence worthy of the wealthier
sectors of the city.‖ Between 2004 and 2007, the PUI Noroeste in Medellin constructed 1.3 times
the total public space built in the 53 years prior, with 20 new parks built. Nine neighbourhoods
had their first public meeting space built. There is a constant police presence and residents feel
proud of their neighbourhood.
The library parks have been particularly popular among young people in search of new, safe after-
school gathering spaces. The network has also been instrumental in raising Medellin‘s digital
literacy. Arguably this was one of the most visibly successful projects.105
Figure 68: Map of Medellin, showing completed project locations106
The Metropolitan Green Belt is an ambitious long-term endeavor to designate 75 kilometers (46
miles) of green space on the slopes of the Aburra Valley surrounding the city.107
105
http://www.elmundo.com/portal/noticias/poblacion/alcalde_presento_programas_bandera_unidades_de_vida_105
articu
ladas_-uva-.php 106
http://medellin.ecocitizenworldmap.org/wp-
content/uploads/sites/4/2014/02/parques_bibliotecas_construidos_2004-2007-red-de-bibliotecas.jpg 107
http://medellin.ecocitizenworldmap.org/
140
Medellin River Park is a proposal of the Medellin river bank transformation project that will
transform nearby parks, road interchanges and create a space for recreation. 107
Articulated Life Units (Unidades de Vida Articulada – UVA) are a new urban typology whose
purpose is to create a space for citizenship training with shared uses including sport, culture and
participation.
Conclusion
The main government objective was to curb crime issues. The transformations achieved in
landscape terms and public space achieved in each of the neighbourhoods are remarkable and they
have improved living conditions in all respects In addition to the urban development and social
programs that helped promote community and safety within isolated regions. The connection
between the hilly outskirts of the city with the city centre via public transportation was viewed as
most important.
A list of the most important strategic projects104
:
Línea K Metro Cable en la Comuna Nor-oriental, spans 2,0 km (2004)
Orquideorama del Jardín Botánico, (Architect, Plan B Arquitectos + JPRCR Arquitectos,
2006)
La Biblioteca España (Architect, Giancarlo Mazzanti, 2007)
El Colegio en Santo Domingo Savio (Architect, Obranegra arquitectos, 2009)
El Parque Explora (Architect, Alejandro Echeverri, 2007)
Linea J Metro Cable Comuna Occidental, spans 2,9 km (2008)
Los reacondicionamientos de los Coliseos para los juegos Sur Americanos (Architect,
Giancarlo Mazzanti, 2010)
Las piscinas de la Unidad Deportiva Atanasio Girardot (Architect, Paisajes Emergentes,
2010)
Parque Biblioteca Pública León de Greiff (Architect, Giancarlo Mazzanti, 2011
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8 Target Metrics and Goals
8.1 Vision 2020
As a culmination of the topical research, geospatial analysis, and case studies, the team presents a
vision of Juarez in 2020 in which all indicators of sustainable urbanism are considered in a holistic
and unified city model.
The primary obstacles to quality of life in Juarez, as determined through the research phase, are
poor urban and economic development. Due to a lack of checks and balances or transparency
within the municipal and state government for urban planning and administration within Juarez,
the city limits have been allowed to expand for individual interests at severe cost to the city‘s
infrastructural capacity and citizens‘ livelihood. As development spreads, the following services
also become spread too thin: infrastructure maintenance, utilities, sanitation, police, inspection,
public transportation, etc. We also see crime and violence increase in areas with dilapidated or
abandoned buildings and little to nor surveillance. With distance and inadequate public
transportation also comes overdependence on automobiles, creating longstanding impacts on
health and environmental pollution.
Juarez‘s location on the northernmost border of Chihuahua, let alone Mexico, means that
economic investment from the state government is considerably less than to cities closer to centers
of national activity. Yet its place as a border city renders it vulnerable to significant fluctuations in
economic development from the U.S. side. With the rise of the maquiladora industry in the 70s,
this seemed to provide a positive boost to Juarez‘s economy. Nearly fifty years after, however, this
industry has embedded an unsustainable demand for low-wage employment within the economy
that intensifies the degradation of quality of life we already witness from poor urban planning.
It is clear that sweeping changes in policy, planning, and governance at the macro level are needed
to stave these obstacles to quality of life. We need densification of the urban center, elimination of
wasteful growth, safe and accessible public space, and economic diversification among other
changes. However, these changes cannot occur without the will, representation, and engagement
of citizens. If we believe this to be true, then the most important first step in urban change is civic
education where it is lacking. And without a central voice for civic education, it can only be
achieved through small, incremental, and personal experiences of opportunity and awareness. Our
approach emphasizes the importance of and opportunity for micro changes to lead and accelerate
political, economic, and social change and depends on a results-based accountability in our
diagnoses and planning decisions. With concrete metrics and goals throughout all sectors of the
urban environment, we can focus our efforts on interventions in critical areas with critical impact
on multiple aspects of quality of life and measure the effects of these interventions over time. Only
through such a data-driven model of urban intervention and dialogue can we move towards a
transparent, open, and accountable city planning and administration and a higher quality of life for
all Juarez citizens.
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8.2 Final Table
The following table presents about fifty metrics chosen by the team to represent a holistic model
of Juarez. The current data city-wide provides us with a quantitative diagnosis of how the city is
performing across various sectors including the natural and built environment, political, economic
and social structures, and citizen quality of life. Many of the metrics were mapped as part of the
geospatial analysis which allowed the team to identify four critical areas (A is Felipe Angeles,
Puerto Anapra and Lomas de Poleo (northwest); B is the historic center; C is Los Ojitos,
Ladrilleros y Caleros, etc. (west); and D is Parajes de San Jose, San Isidro and other
neighborhoods in the south), each which has its own recorded data for the metric.
The right half of the table is the team‘s projections for 2020 in each of the metrics so as to create a
measurable and accountable set of target goals. From this we open up the possibility of a portfolio
of design and policy interventions which can incrementally work towards each target in a
disciplined and synergistic way. It also creates a forum for focused criticism and debate of specific
targets and priorities. This table is very much a work in progress but provides the dashboard for
the team to move into the design phase of the project.
The sections following the table are explanations and sources for some metrics.
Table 1: Target metrics and goals
Specific Metric Current
Total A B C D
Human Development Index (HDI) 0.696214 -
0.917404
-- -- -- --
Gini Index 0.43 - 0.5 -- -- -- --
Homicide [incidents/100,000
capita/year]
30 3.35 12.25 2.2 4.5
Insecurity [% citizens who think
primary problem is insecurity]
39.2% 38.3% 38.3% 39.0% 36.7%
Armed Robbery [incidents/100,000
capita/month]
4.54 -- -- -- --
Sexual Abuse [incidents/100,000
capita/year]
9.54 -- -- -- --
Trust in Law Enforcement [1 (worse)-
5 (best) rating]
1.676 -- -- -- --
Civic Engagement [% citizens who
are active members of a community
organization]
12.1% 11.5% 11.5% 11.5% 10.9%
Civic Education [% citizens that can
identify leaders in their community]
12.6% 11.8% 11.8% 11.8% 12.0%
Non-Governmental Activism [# of
NGOs]
282 20 21 13 24
Electoral Participation [% voter
turnout]
58.0% 56.8% 56.8% 56.8% 61.0%
Health Backwardness [% population] 31.4% 22.2% 6.4% 6.4% 23.0%
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Housing Backwardness by Quality
and Space [% population]
29.9% 14.4% 8.0% 14.7% 7.0%
Social Welfare [% with low and very
low social welfare]
24.1% 19.0% 19.9% 17.4% 7.9%
Educational Backwardness [%
population]
26.3% 6.0% 22.4% 39.9% 5.3%
Educational Backwardness [%
population under 15 years]
16% 6.30% -- 2.40% 7.20%
Educational Backwardness
[%population under 30 years]
30% 14.20% -- 5.50% 13.70%
Unducated Population [% adult men] 46.90% -- -- -- --
Uneducated Population [% adult
women]
39.90% -- -- -- --
Basket Price [MXN $/month] $564.40 -- -- -- --
Household Income [MXN $/month] $9,191.60 $2,455 -
$4,382
$3,222 -
$5,543
$3,222 -
$4,382
$4,383 -
$6,704
Percentage of total trade coming from
small and micro enterprises [%
enterprises]
13% 2% 3% 9% 2%
Agricultural production boost in
Juarez Valley
20% -- -- -- 8%
Minimum Wage [MXN $/hr/worker] $70.10 -- -- -- --
GDP per Capita [US $] (El Paso is
$33,800)
$8,600 -- -- -- --
Job Opportunity [# of jobs / # of
people over 12 yo (942,952)]
39.70% -- -- -- --
Percentage of Occupied Commercial
Space
19% 5.97% 8.91% 2.13% 2.00%
Cost of flood damages (businesses,
government, calculated over 20 years
MXN $)
$40,807,26
7
-- -- -- --
Qualitative flood damages (effect on
health)
13% -- -- -- --
Volume of water use
[liters/capita/day]
300 -- -- -- --
Capacity of treatment plants
[liter/sec]
500 -- -- -- --
Number of people with water access 97% -- -- -- --
Average water use / Water efficiency
(water use in cubic m per capita)
23 -- -- -- --
Access to Water 91% -- -- -- --
Access to Sanitation 92% -- -- -- --
Access to Electricity 92% -- -- -- --
Green space [m2/capita] 4.6 -- -- -- --
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Unoccupied Homes 116000 -- -- -- --
8.3 Homicide
Brief Explanation
This metric quantifies the number of murders that occur on a yearly basis within Ciudad Juarez. At
an international level this is how safety, security, and violence is measured for an entire city.
Because of the international importance of this metric it is important to characterize and report on
the number, type, and locations of homicides within the city. In rankings regarding the
measurement of violence in a city, Juarez has consistently measured within the top 30 cities
globally.
Method of Measurement
The number of homicides is normalized by 100,000 people so that it is easily related between
cities of varying homicide rates. The metric is reported by Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia
(http://www.mesadeseguridad.org/indicadores-de-seguridad-enero-2015/) within Ciudad Juarez
and verified by international bodies.
Commentary
This metric is a simple indication of the level of violence within a city and is used internationally
for comparing security. In 2009, the homicide rate reached an all-time high and Ciudad Juarez was
named the most violent city in the world. Addressing violence and security in a city is a complex
problem. The high homicide rate in 2009 was the result of gang turf wars taking place in Ciudad
Juarez. Once Sinaloa gained control of Ciudad Juarez, the homicide rate decreased. In past years,
Mesa de Seguridad set target homicide rates that corresponded to
8.4 Insecurity
Brief Explanation
This metric reflects the city‘s perception of security, safety, and violence. Unlike, the homicide
rate which is a global indicator of violence, this metric is unique to Juarez and is based on public
perception.
Method of Measurement
This metric was measured via surveys. Plan Estrategico de Juarez conducted these surveys and
updates them yearly in a report discussing quality of life in Ciudad Juarez: asi estamos Juarez,
Systema de Indicadores de Calidad de Viva
(http://planjuarez.org/images/docs/informe_aej_2015.pdf). The metric measures if people see
insecurity as a primary problem, therefore if the number is higher individuals believe that security
issues are of more importance.
Commentary
This metric is a good representation of how individuals feel about and perceive violence and
security in Ciudad Juarez. The areas of the city that have lower incidents of violence recognize
security is as big of an issue. At first glance this may seem hypocritical, but areas with less
violence are comprised of wealthier demographics who have more possessions to be concerned
145
about. Additionally, areas where violence is more prevalent are home to individuals who are
lacking proper infrastructure, economic support, and transportation that could push issues of
security farther from the first priority to address.
8.5 Armed Robbery
Brief Explanation
This metric shows the number of armed robberies that occur within the city and is a good
indication of smaller crimes within the larger context of violence in Ciudad Juarez.
Method of Measurement
Mesa de Seguridad is the primary reporter for the number of armed robberies attempted and with
arrests. The measurement is captured every month and relayed in total at the end of a year.
(http://www.mesadeseguridad.org/indicadores-de-seguridad-enero-2015/)
Commentary
In addition to armed robberies or specific locations, there has been additional less violent incidents
of violence. Auto theft has continued to be an issue for Ciudad Juarez, as well as unarmed
robberies.
8.6 Sexual Abuse
Brief Explanation
Levels of sexual abuse have been a contentious subject for Ciudad Juarez. Issues regarding
femicides, the murder of women, has brought international attention to Ciudad Juarez. This metric
is a small indication of the inequity between men and women in the city and indicates events of
domestic violence between men and women as well as sexual harassment.
Method of Measurement
This method is a self reporting metric that is captured through the yearly and monthly reports that
Plan Estrategico de Juarez publishes (http://www.asiestamosjuarez.org/abuso-sexual/) as well as the
City of Juarez.
Commentary
Because many women are ashamed or scared to report actions of domestic violence and sexual
harassment, these numbers are not as representative of security issues within Ciudad Juarez.
Tracking these numbers may help indicate the level of inequity between men and women within
the city.
8.7 Trust in Law Enforcement
Brief Explanation
This metric seeks to shed light in the perception of the inhabitants of Ciudad Juarez on their law
enforcement officials.
By understanding the average rate of trust the people of Juarez have in their police force, one can
gain a superficial view of the law enforcement level of professionalism and relationship with the
citizens.
146
Method of Measurement
This metric was generated by a survey done by Plan Estratégico de Juárez with a sample pool of
1,507. Participants were asked to rate their trust of the three main branches of the police force
(Municipal, Ministerial and Federal) from 1 to 5; 5 representing the highest level of trust.
Commentary
With a score of 1.676 within a scale of 1 to 5, we can infer that the average citizen of Ciudad
Juarez has a very improvable trust perception of the local law enforcement. This score could be
the result of a variety of negative experiences in the interaction of the police with the locals. It is
important to take into account Juarez‘ turbulent past which pushed law enforcement to
unconventional practices, and the constant accusations of corruption within the police force.
8.8 Health Backwardness
Brief Explanation
It is considered that a person is in a situation with lack of access to health services when they do
not have to right to receive medical services from any institution providing medical services,
including Seguro Popular, institutions of Social Security (IMSS , ISSSTE, PEMEX, Army or
Navy) or private medical services.
Method of Measurement
The insured population of Ciudad Juarez is served by the IMSS, ISSSTE, SEDENA, UACJ, State
Pension Civil and Municipal Medical Services. The first two institutions have a complex structure;
the other, operating in a mixed mode where the services of the first level are treated in their
facilities. And, the second and third levels are serviced under agreement in private sector
facilities.
Commentary
31.4% of the city has a lag in the percentage of population without medical health services. Intra-
urban level areas have very high or high levels and are located mainly in the central area and
southwestern areas of the city.
8.9 Housing Backwardness by Quality and Space
Brief Explanation
This metric reflects the quality and amount of living spaces by measuring the variable percentage
of private dwellings with dirt floors and average number of occupants per room.
Method of Measurement
26.9% of the city is characterized by housing backwardness.
Commentary
Georeferencing of the indicators shows that high housing backwardness is located in the west and
northwestern areas of the city, especially in the case of housing quality. For the case of
overcrowding, the northwestern and southwestern areas have the highest mean lag. This is where
the most affordable housing is located.
147
8.10 Social Welfare
Brief Explanation
To graphically identify areas with lower welfare in Juárez information was taken from the II
Census of Population and Housing (INEGI, 2005), such as overcrowding, percentage of illiteracy,
average education level, percentage with basic educational backwardness, percentage of
population living in a fourth bedroom and living population in a room.
Method of Measurement
With the information obtained from these areas, a composite score was developed and the city was
divided into five different levels:
Very poor welfare
Low level of welfare
average welfare level
High level of welfare
Very high level of welfare
Commentary
318,170 individuals live in areas of very low and low levels of welfare. This accounts for 24.09%
of the total population. This population is mainly located in the north west and southwest areas of
the city, where there is lack of basic services and infrastructure quality. The average level of
welfare was the most significant because it represented 35.99% of the population, equivalent to
475.366 people. The population at an average welfare level is scattered in different areas of the
city, concentrating mainly on the west and south east. Those with high levels of welfare account
for 14.64%, a total of 527,468 individuals. This population is located in the most consolidated
areas of the city, primarily in the north and east.
8.11 Educational Backwardness
Brief Explanation
This metric indicates the educational backwardness of the people in the city including literacy.
Educational backwardness is based on a set of methodological factors and not only on
characteristics of the population.
Method of Measurement
The threshold of this dimension was determined by INEE and proposed to Coneval Standard of
the Mexican State Compulsory Schooling (NEOEM). The following criteria are factors in
educational backwardness:
Individuals have 3-15 years of education and there is compulsory basic education but no
formal education center.
Individuals born before 1982 and do not have the expected level of education that should
have been completed at that time (elementary basic).
Individuals born after 1982 and do not have compulsory level of education equivalent to
high school completeness.
148
Analysis was performed using maps QGis, where the factors were economic income levels,
educational levels, educational attainment and educational services; after using the product of the
National Geographic Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEGI) and the program of the
National Inventory of Housing (INVI), was the creation of polygons defining the colonies detected
in the map already done. The creation of the polygon generates count and percentage tables where
shows the exist population quantity in the area analyzed by age ranges, with which the percentages
for each colony are removed, helping us also by data collected from Luis Cervera in your
document ―Diagnosis geo-socio of Ciudad Júarez and society‖, gives the percentage of
educational backwardness in each of the areas identified in the map.
Commentary
Juarez has 26.3% of educational backwardness with approximately 345,407 individuals in the city
with some lag indicator. (INEGI, 2010)
Joint localized areas, give a result of 16% of educational backwardness in the first stage of basic
education, while in the second stage to complete the basic education gives us a lag of 30%. In
general data of the city have a percentage uneducated population where it is broken down than
men is 46.90% and 39.90% for women.
8.12 Household Income
Brief Explanation
The average income is a measure of the income generated by each user and allows the analysis of
income generation and a conjugate lacks analysis and possible quality of life that can help identify
vulnerable populations and areas for possible solutions.
Method of Measurement
For the calculation of income per household the number of employed persons was estimated
per household in each AGEB, after the census tracts were grouped into the corresponding taz and
the number of persons employed by taz was estimated for the calculating income taz used a
disaggregated data base 15 salary ranges (including those who did not specify their income) of
According to the results of XII Census of Population and Housing, then grouped by taz and
multiplied by the number of employed persons per dwelling at which resulted in income of 2000
per household, for calculating the revenues for 2008 were applied increases the minimum wage
from then, in the case of the areas that were created after 2000 the income housing for 2008 was
estimated according to the price of housing and average incomes who ask builders to grant credits
housing and income characteristics similar to other areas.
Commentary
The area has the lowest family income is Anapra, with income family average 5,260 pesos to
2008, while the northern region and the area Ecological integration have higher incomes than
25,000 pesos monthly being the highest in the city. Table 4 shows the monthly income average per
area at 2008 pesos. (INEGI, 2010)
149
8.13 Small and Micro enterprises
Brief Explanation
It seeks to analyze how much percentage of trade that is generated in the micro and small enterprises with the aim of promoting these areas of small businesses and not just focus on the industry. The metric indicates which is the quantification of these places by area previously focused on an economic study.
Method of Measurement
As trade in micro and small enterprises was quantified in each of the colonies identified, then take
an amount compared to the city level and reach the desired percentage. This method was
performed for each of the areas.
Commentary
When analyzed which were micro and small enterprises, it was observed that most were focused
on selling personal items or food. This gives us an index of the type of trade that is generated in
each of the colonies analyzed.
8.14 Occupied Commercial Space
Brief Explanation
What is sought to analyze this metric is the space dedicated to trade for each of the areas proposed
in order to see what the level of use of such.
And with that, if you define more areas lack devote to trade, and see how they can be developed to
a higher degree.
Method of Measurement
I will look at each of the colony trade that occurs, at all levels, and what are the characteristics of
the dominant. With that, I went the percentage that is being used to trade and what is its main
business. This was done with each of the colonies of different areas.
Commentary
What I can see is that colonies with greater index of trade, of the three zones, were engaged in
retail sale of household appliances, computers, articles for interior decoration d and used items.
And these colonies are located on main streets, so much traffic flow and therefore conclude that
this is the reason why have a greater number of trade and therefore is generated employment area.
8.15 Unoccupied residential area
Brief explanation
This metric shows as numbers of unoccupied houses around entire city, which occurred due to
little or no research of the market. It serves as a good base point for future investments into
construction and renovation.
150
Method of Measurement
This metric was measured via surveys. The numbers that were found differ depend on source or
time that were measured. As a main source for the numbers was
http://www.imip.org.mx/pdu/PDUSEPT2010.pdf but since it was made in 2010 it gives as outdated data
due to recent movements.
Commentary
There were no studies done of the market sector in the past, to analyze actual demand. In the
recent years all movements were made after analyzing. Also there were some positive actions in
people movements after the murder rate plummeted Juárez become more attractive for new
residents.
As one of the bigger problems is lack of basic services, efforts should focus on building health
centers, schools and commercial areas.