Francisco Lara-Valencia

Climate Change and U.S.-Mexico Border Communities

While the U.S.-Mexico border has been called a “third country” and has been identified as a distinct region (Anzaldua 1987), the challenges it faces are due in large measure to its high degree of integration into global processes of economic and environmental change. The border region is characterized by a so-called “double exposure” (Leichenko and O’Brien 2008)—meaning that environmental change in the region is driven by accelerated processes of global economic integration (such as foreign-owned industries and international migration) coupled with intensive climate change. It is critical to understand the drivers of climate-related vulnerability and capacities for adaptation in the region in the context of the region’s distinct history and contemporary challenges, shared climate regime, transboundary watersheds and airsheds, and interdependent economies and cultures.

Space for equity: socioeconomic variations in the provision of public parks in Hermosillo, Mexico

This article examines the intersection between globalisation and allocation of open public space by testing the spatial equity hypothesis in Hermosillo, Mexico, a regional city impacted directly by global processes. Availability and accessibility of public parks were examined using a geographic information system and neighbourhoods were stratified into quintiles based on socioeconomic status. Overall, the analysis shows that the amount of public park space in Hermosillo is substandard and its distribution reveals a pattern of spatial inequity affecting primarily residents of poor neighbourhoods. We argue that as the economy of the city grows increasingly integrated into global circuits, the global-to-local connection materialises in an unequal competition between globalised spaces and local public space. This, in turn, leads to further relegation of neighbourhoods that are already on the margins of urban equity regarding access to public parks. This study extends prior research conducted in developed countries to a city in a developing nation and fills a vacuum of information that potentially can contribute to a more equitable development in Hermosillo.

Borders and Cities: Perspectives from North America and Europe

Research questions focusing on cities and borders lead one to reflect on the relationship between the two objects which characterise them. Such a bringing-together is not only recent, but also somewhat counter-intuitive (Saez, Leresche and Bassand 1997; Reitel et al. 2002). Indeed, as an institution of the nation-state, borders have long evoked the idea of peripheries or limits, of closedness and emptiness, whereas cities have always been associated with the notion of centrality (economic, political and cultural), openness, and accumulation. The approach to borders promoted by regional science and economic geography (see, in particular, Christaller 1933 and Losch 1940) is emblematic of this view, as it regards borders as barriers that generate distortions in markets and turn border regions into economically crippled spaces that are not conducive to urban development.

Spatial equity and transportation hazard along cross‐border trade corridors: The case of Ambos Nogales

Abstract Using a spatial perspective, this article explores the equity dimension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona, two of the U.S.‐Mexico border communities most impacted by trade after the implementation of the agreement in 1994. Ambos Nogales (Both Nogales) is a major hub within the cross‐border transportation corridor connecting northwestern Mexico with the United States and Canada and both cities are subject to intense trade‐related traffic, including the movement of hazardous materials and toxic waste generated by export‐oriented industries in Mexico. As a first step in this analysis, we classify and map residential areas in Ambos Nogales applying an index of socio‐environmental vulnerability. We then define the boundaries of existing hazard zones and their overlay with these areas in both cities. Finally, we contrast residential areas within the hazard zones with those outside to probe for patterns of social inequity both locally and across the border.

Neighborhood socio-environmental vulnerability and infant mortality in Hermosillo, Sonora

OBJECTIVE This paper explores the impact of contextual variables at the neighborhood level on a health marker in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico and discusses the importance of collaboration between planners and health professional to minimize the negative effect of contextual factors on urban health. MATERIALS AND METHODS Few studies in Mexico have assessed health outcomes at the intra-urban scale and their interaction with neighborhood-level contextual variables. Using spatial analysis and geographical information systems, the paper explores the association between infant mortality and an index of socio-environmental vulnerability used to measure urban contextual factors. RESULTS Two high infant mortality clusters were detected within neighborhoods characterized by relatively good environmental conditions and one in a neighborhood with a poor environment. CONCLUSIONS Our results show the clustering of high infant mortality areas and some association with built environment factors in Hermosillo. The results support the need to reconnect public health and urban planning as a way to create healthier environments in Mexican cities.

Disparities in the provision of public parks in neighbourhoods with varied Latino composition in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACT This article examines the provision of public parks in Latino and non-Latino neighbourhoods in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Though previous research has examined the socio-spatial distribution of urban parks, few have analysed both accessibility and variations in park features associated with the Latino composition of neighbourhoods. In this study, geographical information systems were employed to assess the availability and accessibility of neighbourhood parks, and Google Earth was used to audit their natural and built environmental features. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Games-Howell post hoc test was applied to examine the hypothesis that park resources are not equitably distributed across neighbourhoods, and that Latino places are disproportionally affected by a suboptimal provision of park space and services. The analysis points to invariance across neighbourhoods in terms of quantity and features of public parks, so the expected systemic pattern of inequality affecting Latino neighbourhoods in Phoenix Metro was not found. The study suggests, however, some areas wherein cities in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area could act to improve the allocation of public park resources and engage the diversity of local populations.

Local Responses to Climate Change Vulnerability Along the Western Reach of the US–Mexico Border

Abstract The US–Mexico borderland is a highly urbanized region, with urbanization levels rivaling that of many industrialized nations. Against this backdrop, recent studies predict a warmer climate and increased droughts in the region that will exacerbate competition over a limited supply of water resources and energy, in addition to higher incidence of vector-borne disease, flooding, and heat waves that would be more intensively felt in urban areas. This article seeks to contribute to the limited body of knowledge regarding climate change responses by municipalities on both sides of the US–Mexico border, including their type, drivers, magnitude and sustainability. Understanding these aspects is necessary to shed light on the challenges this border region faces to incorporate climate change in its urban agenda and create the governance mechanisms for effective cross-border mitigation and adaptation.