Mexico City: our common future?

This paper describes Mexico City's environmental problems, how and why they arose. and how they have changed over the last ten years. This includes an interest in how the problems have been affected by environmental policies and demographic structures. It highlights how some environmental problems a re simply characteristics of large cities while others can only be understo od in relation to specific economic, political and geographic factors. It d iscusses what constrains the cheapest and most effective solutions - for in stance the lack of an integrated public transport policy and measures to pr omote energy and water conservation The constraints include complex and oft en deep-rooted political and administrative factors - for instance the lack of funding available to the municipalities which house a large and growing proportion of the Low income population and the powerful vested interests which benefit from the lack of an integrated transport policy. The paper al so shows up the inaccuracies in much of the general literature when referri ng to Mexico City - for instance the exaggerations as to its population and size and the assumption that much reduced population growth rates would ne cessarily bring improved environmental conditions.