History

The Influence of History on Social Housing in CDMX

Adrian Castro, Andrea Fernando, Brittany Hester, Travis Rosenlieb

From the Nahua settlement to the rise of the Aztec empire, Spanish colonization, subsequent revolutions, and the geopolitical powers of the modern day, social housing in Mexico City has been intimately tied to the valley's tumultuous political history. The shape of neighborhoods and the ways of living in this land show the contours of an ongoing struggle between indigenous agrarianism, urban energy, and hegemonic ambition. In the slide show below you can find the story of that history in images divided into broad epochs separated by major changes in the prevailing power structure of the day. While it is easy to see the scars left in urban development and the natural world by the depredation of colonialism and predatory capital, it is critical to avoid totalizing judgement. Vibrant markets spring up amidst informal sprawl while Chinamperos tend their floating gardens in ways familiar to their Nahuatl predecessors five centuries prior. The canals and avenues of the city built atop Lake Texcoco bear lessons worth learning, ways of life worth celebrating, and challenges worth facing.

EMPIRE

Nahua settlements around the lakes can be characterized by a handful of essential factors. In addition to the importance of religious practice and the primacy of the priest caste, not explored here, the settlements were composed of two main levels of civic organization: The Altepetl and the Calpulli. The Calpulli, and by extension the Altepetl and the Empire, are made possible by the Chinampa, an artificial landform and farming technique idiosyncratic to the valley.

Altepetl, from the Nahuatl words meaning “Water-Mountain” were the main unit of civic organization in pre-colonial Mesoamerica. Around the size of a city-state, the Altepetl typically comprised a temple, commerce complex, and surrounding agricultural activities. Importantly, no Super-Altepetl identity existed. While the Aztec Empire properly refers to the power structure centered in Tenochtitlan, for instance, residents of that city or any other in the valley would not have described themselves as ‘Aztec’, rather using the name of their Altepetl as their highest level of group membership.

Calpulli, from the Nahuatl words meaning “Large House”: Sub-Unit of the Altepetl. Neighborhoods oriented around groupings of family units. They are responsible for the coordination of farming and are entitled to the harvest but do not directly own the land which is farmed. Calpulli membership is transmitted by family. An Altepetl would be comprised of its temple, commercial area, and several Calpulli.

Chinampas, a farming technique whereby reed fences were erected underwater on the lakebed and soil was piled within to create small islands above the water line. These Islands were proportioned to retain moisture, and the unique nature of their composition made them incredibly fertile, producing up to 7 harvests per year.

The Spanish conquered Mexico in 1521. During this period the Spanish Conquistadors destroyed the Aztec empire and built Churches on top of the temples. The colonizers renamed their conquered territory New Spain. Church and monasteries were the key contributors in the field of arts at that time. Therefore, religious architecture became the most important form of creative expression. Although icons and styles were imported, materials and forms used by indigenous artisans gradually led the way to distinctively Mexican style. The city grew with all buildings in the same height except for the convent of San Francisco. This was because of the royal decree.

Social hierarchy, already in place during the Aztec period, solidified during colonization. Spaniards, Creoles, Mestizos and Indians were treated as 4 distinct social castes. Mexicans got their independence from Spain in 1821 and the republican constitution of 1824 established Mexico City as the capital. The Mexican American war was fought between 1846-1848 and Mexico lost 1/3^rd of its territory including California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

COLONIZATION

REFORM

In the period right after the independence, Mexico was on constant revolutions trying to settle the social structures inequalities and mainly the question of how the land is occupied. The majority of the population occupied the rural areas of the whole Mexican territory, scattered were the indigenous and criollo people inhabiting varying scales of small agglomerations and haciendas.

Laborers of haciendas were the worst positioned, their lives lack so much individuality that multiple families were placed together into improvise shelter. In this context the men were subjugated to the land and the women to the home. Agglomeration of Families used the scarce common land that had to be used by the specified use established by the government, mainly agriculture. Little to non subsidies and infrastructure were provided to farmers to work the land.

Space was used similarly throughout the country but material varies from regions to adapt to the immediate environment. These conditions that had the lower class subjugated to the rich ( both farmer against hacendado, and hacendado against bourgeois) collapsed in the Mexican revolution that called for: ( land and liberty) (land is for who works it). Ideologies that could let us see the social conscious shift on the way lands and space were valued. There was a strong ideology of working the land in order to prosper, it was a relationship that gave people a strong connection with the idea of the progressing Mexico. It was about shifting the distribution of land and the apparent solution to that was what influenced the current built environment.

After all the revolutionary wars throughout Mexico It was time to rebuild the city. Over the next couple decades and through WWII the presidents of Mexico would make several decisions that impacted the economy of Mexico City. The revival of revolutionary-era social revolution helped distribute an abundance of land, an alliance was formed with the U.S. to fight in the war, and Mexico agreed to pay millions to the U.S. oil companies. The PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) became the ruling governance in the 40’s. Oil reserves were found on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and believed it would help the economy, but Mexico was left with the world's largest international debt. In 1994 the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was put in place between the US, Canada, and Mexico, which helped with tensions between the three nations.

The war on drugs has been a parallel struggle to the economy in Mexico. The marijuana tax act was put in place and the government tried to put narcotic production under state regulations, which pushed the US to threaten to seize all medicinal goods from Mexico. During the war, the drugs coming from Turkish and European countries were blocked, and the poppy and hemp production increased. By the 80’s the cartels were in power and the US tried to fight the drug crisis by enforcing the Anti-Drug use ACT. When NAFTA was put in place, due to the small agricultural businesses out of business, it enabled the poppy and hemp industry to flourish.

Now in Mexico there are almost 60 million people who can’t afford to build or buy a home. There are direct correlations between drug violence and the production rates, salary rates, and profit rates. Huge quantities of houses are housing 2 or more families, and a great number of these homes are made from recycled products such as plastic and cardboard.

MODERNITY

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