New urban inequalities: The global appropriation of heritage in Mexican historical centers

Abstract

Urban inequalities in heritage centres are inducted by the creation of tourist, cultural and high-end services that generate aseptized and cosmopolitan atmospheres in historically popular and heterogeneous spaces. These so-called “rescues” of historic centres can be explained in part by the presence of foreign populations as secondary residents or as tourists. This presence hides complex processes that lead the accentuation of urban inequalities, under the tutelage of the State, the market and local/global factors an economic, social, spatial and political transformation seeks to respond to the expectations of the international middle classes with a higher purchasing power. In consequence, the exclusion targets inhabitants and traditional users who are deprived of the patrimonial enjoyment of the historical centres in many Mexican cities.