Unlettered cities: Urban Order and Popular Irregular Settlements in Mexico City

Abstract

In Hispanic America of the 16th century the lettered word preceded the foundation and building of cities. In the Latin American metropolis of the 21st century the lettered word, consisting in urban laws and rules, continues to define what governments and lettered elites consider as urban order; and excluding and disqualifying as irregular, informal and illegal the self-built housing and neighbourhood of low-income population, who in turn are excluded from de formal market of urban soil and housing. However, urban irregularity is not only permitted and sometimes practiced, but mostly negotiated by the authority (government). The article aims to address the urban informality issue in Mexico City, taking as a departure point the Angel Rama book Lettered City, published in 1984. In the context of the historic Latin American debates about this issue and a case that evidences the complex net of public, private and social actors, in the informal production of human settlements.