GENTRIFICATION in the MONTERREY METROPOLITAN CENTER, 2010-2020

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify areas that are possibly gentrified or in the process of being gentrified, through a localized typology of two components: youthification and an increase in the quality of life. This typology can be applied in similar investigations. Thisd paper addresses the case study of the Metropolitan Center of the City of Monterrey (CMM), Nuevo León, Mexico. The current urban regeneration plans and the increase of housing density in the CMM have caused a vertical real estate “boom” of apartment buildings and have strengthened the emergence of gentrification in the area, understood here as the decrease in social backwardness (increase in the quality of life) over time, with an increase in young adults (25 to 34 years-old), compared to older adults (60+ years-old). This article suggests a procedure to measure gentrification by overlapping the Index of Social Backwardness (ISB) at the Basic Geostatistical Area (AGEB) level, with a youthification index at the electoral section level between the 2010-2020 period. Both the decline of social backwardness (2010-2020) and youthification (2010-2020), are analytically articulated for successive census years, to generate a localized typology of the gentrification process.