Youth experience of urban inequality: Space, class, and gender in Mexico

Abstract

Social fragmentation of urban life is a growing process in most Latin American cities. In spite of the strong link between urban studies and youth studies, the relationship between processes of socio-spatial fragmentation and the youth experience of the city remains under-explored. This chapter examines the relationship between space, class, and gender inequalities and how they interrelate to shape young people’s urban experience and sociability. The expansion of residential segregation, gated communities, new public spaces, insecurity, and fears, among other contemporary urban features, has a strong impact in young people’s urban life, which is mediated by class and gender conditions. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, interviews, and focus groups with privileged and disadvantaged youth in Mexico City, the analysis focuses on two main issues: on the one hand, the processes of “unequal inclusion” and “reciprocal exclusion” in the city and, on the other hand, the patterns of urban interaction based on mutual stigmatization and lack of social recognition.