Mexiko Exkursion 2024
15 students, 14 days, 5 cities – The excursion entitled ”Entangled Geographies: Migration, Urban Space, and Infrastructures of Contemporary Mexico“ took us to the Central American state from 17.02.2024 to 02.03.2024, more precisely to the border region El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, to México City and the Yucatán Peninsula. While the three regions are very different in terms of characteristics such as climate, urban form, and city size, they also share some commonalities. Identifying these patterns locally, uncovering regional, national, and international linkages and their driving global forces, was the focus of the excursion. During this "search for traces“, we encountered the topics of globalization, migration and social inequalities in all cities.
Globalization has led to the emergence of a vast factory landscape in Ciudad Juárez. In contrast, México City and Cancún show a specialization in the tertiary sector. Economic changes are leading to changes in the social structure and political tensions. This is most evident at the border between México and the USA, where migratory movements from Central America to the USA have been met with the militarization of the border. However, México City and the Yucatán Peninsula are also destinations for many migrants. Another important commonality between the various cities we visited was the way in which social inequality shapes and is itself influenced by the cityscape. Poverty and wealth can be found in spatial proximity but heavily segregated at the same time. Gentrification of former working-class neighborhoods like La Roma in México City is further contributing to this disequilibrium.
Overall, on the excursion, we were able to better understand why the visited urban areas of Mexico look the way they do today. Finally seeing and experiencing this firsthand and connecting emotionally what we had been discussing theoretically for 13 weeks, was very enriching. Many thanks to all participants for the fruitful discussions, the external experts for insightful inputs, and our professors Hamid Abud und Ulrike Gerhard who made this possible!