Abstract

SIERRA LOPEZ, Nancy; ROMERO CONTRERAS, Alejandro Tonatiuh  and  ZIZUMBO VILLARREAL, Lilia. Desarrollo regional, electrificación y reorganización socioespacial en Valle de Bravo, México. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2012, vol.7, n.13, pp.243-269. ISSN 1870-4115.

In Mexico, watershed-based planning included water administration and management by means of constructing hydroelectric plants. The main aim was to supply electric power to a fast growing national industry. The Miguel Alemán Hydroelectric Project, located in the south of the State of Mexico, illustrates the consequences of this form of development. This article thus aims to identify environmental changes derived from the construction of one of the six dams which make up this project, the one in Valle de Bravo. Thus, the subtle social bonds which enabled the community to act on behalf of collective interests have been undermined by new social relations. Likewise, resources such as soil and water have become commercial goods the access to which is determined not by social relations, but by the market.

Keywords : regional development; hydroelectric dams; socio-spatial changes; Valle de Bravo.