Decumanus

Origin and development of the city of La Paz, Baja California, through the Police and Good Government edicts of 1833, 1871 and 1894

Edith González Cruz — 2025-10-31

This paper examines the origins and historical development of the city of La Paz, Baja California, through the edicts of Police and Good Government issued in 1833, 1871, and 1894. Building on Samudio’s interpretation (2009), this study regards edicts of good governance as juridical mechanisms that structure urban space in its public and private dimensions, revealing the underlying power relations between the local elite and various social constituencies. Although bands were present in Hispanic America as early as the 16th century, their institutional use by viceregal and municipal authorities saw a marked expansion during the second half of the 18th century. During this same period, the concept of police —as articulated by Hernández (2005, pp. 12-18)— moved beyond its traditional association with administrative practices and governmental regulations aimed at managing urban life and social order. It began to reflect the influence of Enlightenment thought, which introduced into the urban discourse ideals such as comfort, functionality, utility, order, safety and cleanliness, all envisioned as essential conditions for the city’s proper development.

Universal accessibility in the Historic Center of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco

Adriana Yunuen Dávalos Pita — 2025-10-31

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco is a well-established international tourist destination on the Mexican Pacific coast. Its Historic Center is a setting for countless cultural expressions and social interactions, set against a backdrop of natural beauty and architecture, making this area one of the most important in the city. However, it is unknown whether the urban conditions within its public space allow it to be used and enjoyed by all people, regardless of whether they are tourists or city residents, in accordance with the precepts of the right to the city and the pursuit of inclusion. Therefore, the conditions for universal accessibility of the most representative urban elements were evaluated, following a descriptive, cross-sectional, mixed-method methodology, with a sample of 51 city blocks and field work conducted from September to November 2024. The results show that while most of the necessary elements are present, they do not meet universal accessibility conditions and criteria. Only 5 blocks failed to meet the standards, but those with better accessibility represent a very small portion of the total. Significant opportunities are identified to turn the center of Puerto Vallarta into a public space enjoyable for all. This study contributes to decision-making aimed at transforming the destination into an inclusive one.

Resistance in the landscape: community voices and management in view of landslides and flooding in the Sanchez Taboada district of Tijuana

Norma Lidia Hernandez Cortes — 2025-10-31

The urban landscape of the Sanchez Taboada neighborhood in Tijuana (Mexico) has been transformed by floods and landslides, which have compelled residents to incorporate historical knowledge into their collective actions. The aim of this research is to understand how these threats are perceived and how available resources are mobilized to address changes in the urban environment.
Conducted between 2021 and 2024, the study adopted a qualitative approach that prioritized the voices of residents through semi-structured interviews, guided walks, and participatory mapping exercises. This methodology enabled an insider perspective closely tied to the concerns and perceptions of those who inhabit the area.
Findings reveal that, despite structural vulnerability, the community has developed vernacular strategies such as self-managed earthworks, hillside reforestation, and the construction of emergent infrastructure. These practices demonstrate their collective capacity to confront adversity and re-signify the urban landscape. The study also highlights that local memory and community participation are critical for understanding how communities adapt and build resilience in contexts of risk.

Inconsistencies between stated and revealed preferences: an analysis of mobility patterns in the metropolitan area of Pachuca

Alejandro López Callejas — 2025-10-31

Mobility patterns and the use of public transport in metropolitan areas have become key elements in the debate on urban development in Mexico. Factors such as population growth and the expansion of cities highlight their relevance in the government agenda and the local economy. This article explores the mobility preferences of higher education students in the metropolitan area of Pachuca, Mexico, considering the inconsistencies in consumer behavior in markets with multiple attributes, such as transportation. To this end, a qualitative approach based on focus groups was adopted, which allowed the relationship between stated and revealed preferences to be analyzed. The results offer an overview of the dynamics of mobility in this sector.

Low-rise housing in Culiacan during the first half of the 20th century: Its importance in the urban configuration of the modern city

Vicente Armando Amaral Ibarra — 2025-10-31

During the first half of the 20th century, increased investment in water infrastructure for the Culiacan Valley led to accelerated population growth. Many residents of rural communities migrated to the city, triggering a high demand for housing. This need led to the emergence of the first popular neighborhoods in the 1940s, located irregularly on communal lands. This paper proposes an analysis of the popular housing that emerged between 1920 and 1970, as well as its impact on the growth of Culiacan. The essay also addresses topics such as home acquisition, the denunciation of vacant lots, the growth of popular housing, and finally,

Investigación

La vivienda popular en Culiacán durante la primera mitad del siglo XX: su importancia en la configuración urbana de la ciudad moderna

Low-rise housing in Culiacan during the first half of the 20th century: Its importance in the urban configuration of the modern city

Vicente Armando Amaral Ibarra ¹ amaralibarra@uas.edu.mx
Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, México

Alma Pineda Almanza ² a.pinedaalmanza@ugto.mx
Universidad de Guanajuato, México

DECUMANUS. REVISTA INTERDISCIPLINARIA SOBRE ESTUDIOS URBANOS.

Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, México

ISSN: 2448-900X

ISSN-e: 2448-900X

Periodicidad: Semestral

vol. 15, núm. 15, 2025

decumanus@uacj.mx

Recepción: 22 mayo 2025

Corregido: 06 septiembre 2025

Publicación: 31 octubre 2025

URL: https://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/651/6515411007/

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20983/decumanus.2025.2.6

Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.

Resumen: Durante la primera mitad del siglo XX, el aumento de inversiones en infraestructura hidráulica para el valle de Culiacán provocó un acelerado crecimiento poblacional. Numerosos habitantes de las comunidades rurales emigraron hacia la ciudad, desencadenando una alta demanda de vivienda. Dicha necesidad provocó la aparición de las primeras colonias populares en la década de los cuarenta, ubicadas en terrenos ejidales. Este trabajo analiza la vivienda popular surgida entre 1920 y 1970, así como su impacto en el crecimiento de Culiacán. La investigación identifica a diversos actores en la conformación urbana e identitaria de la ciudad, como la producción y adquisición de la vivienda, la denuncia de los solares baldíos, el apogeo de construcción de vivienda popular, además de algunas consideraciones sobre su tipología. En el proceso de construcción de una vivienda es importante considerar las diversas maneras de comprar un terreno, así como los mecanismos para su construcción, ya que estos corresponderán con la calidad, la funcionalidad y las características arquitectónicas. Del total de viviendas construidas entre 1940 a 1980, aproximadamente el 80 % correspondió a la vivienda popular. La denuncia de solares baldíos fue una fórmula utilizada por el Ayuntamiento para ayudar a familias de bajos recursos económicos a tener un lugar para vivir.

Palabras clave: vivienda popular, configuración urbana, colonias populares, Culiacán.

Abstract: During the first half of the 20th century, increased investment in water infrastructure for the Culiacan Valley led to accelerated population growth. Many residents of rural communities migrated to the city, triggering a high demand for housing. This need led to the emergence of the first popular neighborhoods in the 1940s, located irregularly on communal lands. This paper proposes an analysis of the popular housing that emerged between 1920 and 1970, as well as its impact on the growth of Culiacan. The essay also addresses topics such as home acquisition, the denunciation of vacant lots, the growth of popular housing, and finally, some typological considerations of popular housing that, over time, have given the city its identity. In the process of building a home, it is important to consider the various ways of purchasing land, as well as the mechanisms for its construction, as these will correspond to the quality, functionality, and architectural characteristics of the buildings. During this period, approximately 80 % of the total housing built was affordable housing. The City Council used the reporting of vacant lots to help low-income families find a place to live.

Legislation: urbanization and planning in Coahuila in the mid-20th century and its national context

José Manuel Rosales Mendoza — 2025-10-31

A history of urban legislation helps us understand the form, function, and structure of cities, as well as the relationship between regulations and planning instruments, public policies, environmental conditions, and the sociopolitical system over time. This process of "legislating for the city" intensified throughout the 20th century in Mexico, extending to the state and municipal regulations, directly impacting the physical and legal reality of cities.

This article aims to identify the laws related to urban development that were enacted during the second half of the 20th century in Coahuila, establishing the substantial changes that occurred in the legal understanding of the state's cities. It also seeks to recognize which concepts related to planning, management, regulation, management, protection, and urban development were incorporated into Coahuila legislation during the 20th century. A historiographical account of urban legislation in Mexico is provided as a framework, along with a brief analysis of the main urban development regulations from the New Spain period until the enactment of the Human Settlements Law in 1976. Finally, the contents of the 1941 Law on Subdivisions of Cities of the State of Coahuila, the 1954 Planning Law for the State of Coahuila, the 1959 Law for the Protection and Promotion of Construction and Urbanization, and the 1977 Urban Development Law of the State of Coahuila de Zaragoza are analyzed and compared.

This work falls within the scope of urban history, a relatively new branch of history dedicated to analyzing and explaining the transformation processes of cities, in this case specifically from a legal perspective. For the purposes of this work, the specific content of the various laws was analyzed, and a thorough newspaper review was conducted. From a methodological point of view, for the preparation of this work, the specific content of the various laws was analyzed, and an exhaustive newspaper review was carried out. Likewise, historical methods were applied, such as the identification of archival documents (primary sources), found in the Archive of the Judicial Branch of the State of Coahuila and the General Archive of the State of Coahuila through institutional catalogs. The newspaper review comes from the Historical Archive and Digital Newspaper Library of the regional newspaper El Siglo de Torreón, whose funds cover the period from 1922 to 2000, and dozens of historical newspaper articles related to urban laws and regulations were identified. In addition, a historiographical analysis of urban legislation in Mexico was carried out, mainly to identify the ways in which the laws that regulate the city have been historicized.

Intra-urban commuting in the digital age: Evidence from the metropolitan area of Aguascalientes

Nora Luz Quiroz Santiago — 2025-10-31

Intraurban worker mobility has traditionally been associated with a commuting pendular pattern (home-work-home). Digital technologies have opened the possibility of working ‘almost anytime, anywhere’, which implies a flexible intraurban mobility pattern in space and time. This article explores the commuting of knowledge-intensive service jobs in the Aguascalientes Metropolitan Area. Using a non-probability sample, the mobility patterns of these jobs are compared with those of a control group of manufacturing workers. The results indicate that the use of digital technologies and the economic sector, although relevant, are part of a network of mobility determinants, such as employment structure, access to infrastructure, and characteristics of the urban structure. The findings are useful for designing urban planning and development policies.

Systematic review on urban resilience in informal contexts and the articulation with territorial governance and climate modeling

Ireyli Z. Iracheta-Lara — 2025-10-31

This article presents a systematic examination of the current state of urban resilience in informal settlements with a particular focus on semi-arid contexts such as the municipality of Chihuahua, Mexico. The analysis was structured around three dimensions: the incorporation of climate models into territorial planning, the availability of high-resolution local data, and challenges related to governance and financing. Additionally, a lack of information was identified regarding urban conditions, infrastructure, services, and risks in informal settlements. The research was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines through searches in Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SciELO, and the National Repository of CONAHCyT (REMERI). The literature suggests the use of accessible technologies such as drones, remote sensors, and open-source platforms (e.g., OpenStreetMap), complemented by participatory mapping processes to improve data collection and management. Regarding governance and financing, the review highlights significant institutional fragmentation and limited inclusion of local communities. It also emphasizes that although IPCC scenarios, such as RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 constitute a fundamental tool for risk anticipation, their applicability at the local level remains restricted. This limitation is attributed to the lack of geospatial tools and technical capacities to translate them into concrete urban policies. The article proposes recommendations to strengthen urban resilience in informal settlements, including the regionalization of climate models, technical capacity-building of local administrations, the implementation of open data, and the activation of tailored financing schemes. This work contributes to bridging conceptual and operational gaps while providing a foundation for the development of evidence-based and territorially contextualized public policies.