Jill Wigle is a recent SSHRC Award Winner

Jill Wigle’s recent SSHRC award is entitled “Spatial governance of informality in Mexico City”. Contemporary urban growth is now largely concentrated in cities in the global south, especially in rapidly-growing informal settlements. This research project will investigate the social and spatial dynamics of “formal” planning efforts to govern “informal” settlement in the 88,000 hectare conservation zone in the Federal District of Mexico City. Although previously ignored in urban plans, informal settlements are now mapped, classified and monitored by local authorities using an array of spatial technologies. The impact of these spatial calculations has not been widely studied, but is crucial to understanding the contemporary governance of urban space and informal settlement in Mexico City. This three-year program of research will not only trace the contested nature of spatial planning in the city’s conservation zone, but also investigate its social and environmental implications. The research involves detailed case studies of spatial planning initiatives that will help to capture these emerging dynamics of urbanization and what they mean for realizing the recently-signed Mexico City Charter for the Right to the City. The research will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Priscilla Connolly at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco (UAM-A) in Mexico City and will involve graduate students based at Carleton University and at the UAM-A.