Abstract

GARZA, Gustavo. Competitiveness of Mexican Metropolises in the National, Latin American and World Sphere. Estud. demogr. urbanos [online]. 2010, vol.25, n.3, pp.513-588. ISSN 2448-6515.

This is a growing interest in quantifying the competitiveness levels of cities, since all nations must boost the efficiency of their cities in order to be able to operate successfully within the globalization of the economy. In order to develop this thesis, the first aim of this paper is to summarize the main theories on the economic growth of cities and the factors that determine their degree of competitiveness. The second aim is to present the characteristics of the world system of cities in 2005. The third is to analyze the degree of competitiveness of cities in Mexico, Latin America and the world, through the consideration of a set of research projects conducted on the subject. The point is to provide a comparative study of the main classifications existing in Mexico in order to subsequently determine the competitiveness levels of the country’s cities in the Latin American and world sphere.

The main conclusion is that the fact that 20 Mexican cities figure among the 500 most competitive ones has failed to promote significant economic development or prevent the country’s overall competitiveness from falling from 42nd to 60th place between 2002 and 2009. Reversing this trend requires designing a new model for the accumulation of capital in Mexico that will make it possible to overcome the recurrent crises and resume the path towards sustained economic development, which requires boosting the level of competitiveness of Mexican cities to enable them to participate successfully in a world-scale economy.

Keywords : urban competitiveness theories; world hierarchy of cities; competitiveness of Mexican cities; urban and regional policies.