Introduction
In 2018, Claudia Sheinbaum and Clara Brugada assumed executive positions under the umbrella of Mexico’s Fourth Transformation. Both were tasked with fulfilling Presidential instructions to contribute to the right to the city by improving urban areas.
Sedatu’s Interventions and Sheinbaum’s Programs
Under the leadership of Román Meyer Falcón at Sedatu, “comprehensive interventions” were implemented across Mexico’s 31 federative entities. Sheinbaum, as the then-Environmental Secretary during AMLO’s tenure as Mexico City’s mayor, launched “Sembrando Parques” and “Pilares” programs to expand public spaces and social infrastructure in the most marginalized colonias.
Brugada’s Territorial Approach in Iztapalapa
Clara Brugada, Iztapalapa’s first Morena mayor, adopted a territorial approach. She initiated “Las Utopías” (Units for Transformation and Organization for Social Inclusion and Harmony), inspired by Medellin’s Unidades de Vida Articulada (UVAS) in Colombia’s most conflict-ridden neighborhoods.
By 2021, during Brugada’s first three years in office, 1,400 million pesos had been invested to build 14 Utopías. However, the pandemic slowed both projects.
- By the end of 2019-2020, only five Utopías had been constructed, totaling 698,524 square meters of “equipped public space,” including six semi-Olympic swimming pools, three auditoriums for 400 people, two open-air forums, four social housing units, three new boxing schools, a professional ice rink, a multipurpose gym, and a BMX professional track.
- Over six years, the Pilares have remained in modest service. The antioqueño model will now be present in Mexico City’s 16 delegations, with a unique characteristic: to meet essential minimums for new social, cultural, and recreational spaces, 10 sports units and three parks will be repurposed by the capital government. The rest will be installed on Federal lands.
Current Status and Challenges
Five months after the announcement of Utopia deployment, construction work has begun in six delegations. However, progress is lacking in the SCOP Center, the former Secretariat of Communications and Transportation headquarters in Narvarte, evacuated after the 2017 earthquake.
Additionally, a historical, technical, and critical compendium of murals by Renato González Mello, Rebeca Barquera, Zyanya Ortega, and Francisco Esteban Alvarado Carrasco from UNAM’s Aesthetic Research Institute has been presented, emphasizing the need for careful reconstruction of Juan O’Gorman and José Chávez Morado’s murals.
Secondary Effects
Volteretas
Rodrigo Sigfrid Martínez-Celis Wogau: Despite his recent appointment as FIFA World Cup security and protection executive, the Itamita lawyer remains a controversial figure in the State of Mexico, where he served as state police chief during Alfredo Del Mazo’s last triennium. Morenista diputado Ariel Juárez had predicted his imprisonment, and Delfina Gómez’s administration targeted him, stripping him of his security detail along with former Priist governor.
