#ReformaUrbana enters Mexico’s National Development Plan

The Mexican National Development Plan unveiled May 21st, lays out a framework for the development of Mexico’s cities over the next six years. President Enrique Peña Nieto called the plan “a road map,” which will guide Mexico’s development from 2013 through 2018. President Peña Nieto wrote on the administration’s blog “it is a plan to make substantial changes. It is a plan to move Mexico forward; it is a guide to turn the best ideas and proposals of Mexicans into concrete benefits.” Among the proposals included in the document are six key reforms, proposed by a coalition made up of EMBARQ Mexico, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), and the Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies of Energy and the Environment (CMM).

The inclusion of sustainable urban reform principles in the Federal plan is the culmination of a multi-month campaign led by EMBARQ Mexico under the name and Twitter hashtag #ReformaUrbana. EMBARQ Mexico proposed seven concrete initiatives geared at unlocking the immense urban potential of Mexico. These initiatives call for urban reform through structural improvements to institutional, legal, and financial systems. Their aim is to equip Mexico with the tools needed to release the power of Mexico’s cities and improve the quality of life for the almost 90 million people now living in urban Mexico.

Six of the major points promoted by EMBARQ and the coalition are now part of the five-year development plan for Mexico: promoting non-motorized mobility, limiting car usage, and increasing public transport. The plan also calls for increased investment in transport, the sustainable management of cities, and the revitalization of neighborhoods. The six proposals play a significant role in the plan, and poise Mexico for a sustainable future. 

Elevating non-motorized mobility to the Federal level

Four of the adopted proposals focus on sustainable transport. With their inclusion, non-motorized mobility becomes a national policy. The plan intrinsically recognizes the multiple benefits of walking and biking, and calls for the “rational use” of the car. In a country that is seeing explosive growth in personal motorized transport and millions of hours lost in traffic, as well as unhealthy levels of pollution from car exhaust, the rational use of the car is a necessary and worthy goal. In addition to promoting non-motorized mobility, the National Plan discusses the need for public transport, promoting it as a national policy. The first phase of the national investment program PROTRAM has already provided investment for sustainable transport, such as advanced bus systems in Mexico City. More is to come.

The National Development Plan not only recognizes the benefit of sustainable mass transit over individualized modes of transport, it recognizes the need for additional investment in such modes of transport. By emphasizing the need for funding and investment, the plan draws attention to what is needed to make the necessary changes to sustainable transport possible. 

When #ReformaUrbana means livable, sustainable Mexican cities

As Mexico becomes increasingly urbanized, it will be even more important that Mexico’s cities are sustainable, livable, and equitable. Two of the reforms suggested by #ReformaUrbana and adopted into the national plan deal directly with these issues. The plan recognizes that as metropolitan areas grow, there is a need for strategic and sustainable management of cities through institutional capacity building and alignment of planning and management tools. 

The plan also lays out neighborhood revitalization and housing rescue policy, which aims to improve urban areas by intervening in deteriorated neighborhoods. In order to revitalize these urban spaces, the plan calls for improving the housing in these neighborhoods, improving the safety and habitability of these neighborhoods while simultaneously reducing housing costs for residents, and developing the neighborhoods through social and economic engagement.

What’s next?

EMBARQ Mexico and its partners are working with the authorities to develop each of the sectorial programs within Mexico’s various departments, to ensure that the plan is implemented fully and efficiently. Specifics for each program and department will be released in the coming months by the government.

This is a huge accomplishment for EMBARQ Mexico, which will help to unlock the potential of Mexico’s urban environments and benefit the Mexican people. This sort of impactful, large-scale change is what the EMBARQ Network around the globe is working to achieve.

Check out #ReformaUrbana on Twitter, and follow @EMBARQnetwork

#ReformaUrbana is a joint initiative of EMBARQ Mexico, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), and the Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies of Energy and the Environment (CMM). These organizations united efforts to spearhead the creation of national policy to make Mexico’s cities more productive, equitable, inclusive, and less polluted.