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MEXICO: Transforming Urban Policy And Housing Finance

OECD Urban Policy Reviews

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Abstract

Urban issues have emerged as key features on national policy agendas. The importance of cities and their corresponding metropolitan areas to the national economy makes them critical players in the international marketplace. This in turn leads governments to renew their support to cities. At a time of increasing globalisation and international competition for investment, urban regions have become the focus of a wide range of public interventions. Throughout OECD member countries, these policies encompass plans to solve traditional urban problems – urban sprawl, abandoned districts and poverty – and newer issues such as competitiveness strategies, city marketing, environmental sustainability and innovation. The series on National Urban Policy Reviews responds to a demand from OECD member countries voiced at meetings of the Territorial Development Policy Committee and aims to analyse the role of urban areas in regional development and national performance. National reviews are a leading feature of the OECD’s mandate to examine macroeconomic, educational, industrial, tax, environmental and regional development policies, in addition to other areas of interest to the Organisation. The OECD National Urban Policy Reviews seek to provide a comparative synthesis of urban policies in OECD countries, focusing on the role of central governments. A National Urban Policy Review provides a comprehensive assessment of a country’s urban policies as seen through multiple lenses, including economic, social and environmental. First, the reviews focus on the policies designed and introduced by the central government that directly address urban development and regional development policies with an urban development focus. Second, the reviews analyse how national spatial planning for urban regions, along with specific sectoral policies, impact urban development, directly and indirectly. Often, public policies are designed to target sectoral objectives with little or no regard for their profound impact on urban areas, and the means available to implement policies at the local level. Third, the reviews address issues of governance, including intergovernmental fiscal relationships and the various institutional, fiscal and policy tools aimed at fostering co-ordinated urban development among different levels of government and different administrations at the central level. For example, reducing the fragmentation among urban governance structures can help enhance effectiveness and outcomes in public service delivery and other policy areas. From country to country, the OECD National Urban Policy Reviews follow a consistent methodology that features cross-national comparisons and recommendations on the integration of sectoral policies into urban development policy, planning and management. This review of Mexico places particular emphasis on housing due to the importance of housing policy in shaping the country’s urban environment in recent decades.

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