Strengthening Urban Management in Mexican Cities

Project Summary:

The objective of this grant is to To limit urban sprawl in Mexico in order to protect the environment and poor populations. With nearly 84 percent of GDP produced in urban areas, maintaining sustainable cities is key to Mexico’s environmental and economic health. Rapid urbanization threatens to increase pollution and alienate the poor. This green growth implementation program will support Mexico’s Inner-City Affordable Housing Program as it tries to reform national housing subsidies to align with smart urban development. The program will finance urban renovation programs in inner-city areas that prioritize affordable housing in mixed use and transit-oriented areas. The end result: a feasible framework for implementing urban renovation in Mexico. 

List of Activities:

1. Define and establish dialogue with pilot cities for proposed activities in coordination with national counterpart (CONAVI)
2. Conduct review of policy, institutional and regulatory context in Mexico to determine a range of possible framework arrangements for financing and implementation of urban renovation projects
3. Work with participating city governments and other key public and private stakeholders at local level to identify and develop feasible framework models for urban renovation at city level
4. Support city governments in putting in place the selected framework model
5. Work with participating city governments to identify and develop specific urban renovation projects to be supported under new national program
6. Conduct pre-feasibility studies for selected pilot urban renovation projects in participating cities and draft urban renovation plans

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Proposals for feasible framework model for participating cities prepared

Output 2:

• Draft urban renovation plans are ready for discussion and subsequent implementation

Outcomes:

The proposed activity will result in an increased capacity of the local governments in the selected pilot cities to prepare and implement urban redevelopment projects to support green and inclusive urban growth. Specifically, the technical assistance to city governments is expected to yield the following outputs: (i) feasible institutional strategy/framework model to enable urban renovation in place at the city level, this could for instance be the creation of an metropolitan renovation agency or some type of public-private partnership structure that is feasible given the Mexican institutional and policy context; and (ii) specific urban renovation plans for the participating pilot cities prepared to be supported under the new Inner-city Affordable Housing Program. Both outputs will feed directly into and contribute to the successful implementation of the proposed new lending operation to support green urban growth under Mexico’s new Inner-city Affordable Housing Program by financing urban renovation projects that prioritize affordable housing in mixed-use and transit-oriented neighborhoods in inner cities. The Inner-city Affordable Housing Program is expected to have a volume of US$ 800 million, of which US$ 200 million would be a WB loan under the PforR modality and the remaining US$ 600 million would be contributed by the Mexican Government. In addition, the proposed program is expected to leverage a GEF grant in the amount of US$ 5 million to support the preparation and implementation of urban regeneration pilot projects focused on affordable housing in Mexico City.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS)                 
• Seoul Metropolitan Government
• Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH)
• Land and Housing Institute (LHI)