58 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 59 The Apparatus of Ownership

Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco in which the effects of economic restructuring are made attractive and thus embraced by large sectors of the population. This essay The argues that one of the most crucial sites of intervention is the realm of private property, the most intimate of all domains, where a shift Apparatus of in consciousness can be promoted with far- reaching consequences. At the centre dwells the figure of the home-owner, the main subject Ownership of this piece, who plays a crucial role not only in reaffirming the neoliberal agenda through the It is a well-known fact that Margaret Thatcher process of individualization, but also by driving suggested the UK should renegotiate its EU urban development. membership and join NAFTA.1 For her NAFTA If the ratification of NAFTA became the was preferable, as it was neither a customs international signature of President Carlos union, nor a political/administrative entity—it Salinas de Gortari’s administration (1988–1994), was simply free trade.2 Yet, it is also well- private property became his local strategy, known that free trade ideology and the whole as it facilitated the acceptance of the former. neoliberal agenda is not a withdrawal of the Since his presidency, the widespread desire state in favour of free-market individualism, across the entire population to possess private but actually requires an intensification of property has been heavily fuelled through governmental mediation.3 Indeed, NAFTA a media campaign promoting the rights of goes far beyond trade. It is a complex plan property owners, and expedited by a set of for general economic restructuring, which, in economic mechanisms aimed at expanding the order to facilitate the movement of capital and logic of capital accumulation to more spaces commodities, indirectly expands its domain and human activities. Furthermore, since of operations: from international relations his administration, commercial real estate

to domestic ones, from foreign trade to local developers have mushroomed, mortgages for Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco social services, from corporate protection to housing have become the norm, and property self-entrepreneurship, from the wider territory ownership is much more marketed than in to the realm of private property.4 What is previous decades. While housing shortages more, the NAFTA world is one in which, more continue to be a real social concern in Mexico, Project realized in three communities in Jalisco (Cocula, Tala, and Ameca), often than not, ties among individuals are with a deficit of about nine million homes where the inhabitants were trained and supervised during the first stage of loose; the identification of a society as an according to recent government estimates,5 it the construction. agglomeration of owners altogether changes also provides a convenient excuse for drastic Photo credits: Isadora Hastings the understanding of collective interest. No economic transformation. Twenty years down wonder Thatcher became a great sympathizer the line, a series of mortgage-driven modes of such a world in which the free market of urbanization—very common characters of and life become a single dynamic operation, the contemporary Mexican landscape—have where basic services, social institutions, and, left a curious mark on several Mexican cities. at times, personal interests are treated as Throughout this process, housing developers service commodities open to the dictates of the have contributed not only by constructing marketplace. houses, but also by erecting a self-perpetuating While the effects of the agreement are ideological apparatus centred around the desire frequently discussed, the actual mechanisms for property ownership. that facilitate its reproduction have been less In this context of mortgage-driven examined. In Mexico, NAFTA-like agreements urbanization, ownership is not simply an tend to require an auxiliary site of intervention economic or governmental tool useful in 60 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 61 The Apparatus of Ownership microeconomic development. Rather, ownership which forms the basis for Mexican labour and should be seen as an “apparatus”6 whose set social security law,8 housing was inscribed as a of interrelated aesthetic, economic, social, and constitutional right, and provided by employers. political strategies have the capacity to assist However, in the original version there was in the construction of public opinion, influence no clear guidance for how housing was to be particular behaviours, and inculcate the desire provided, only a suggestion that the employer to possess private property. In other words, could charge rent. It was not until the article ownership binds economic strategies to specific was amended in 1972 that the true promotion conduct through a set of visible, material cues of ownership took place; the National Fund mobilized through an architectural aesthetic. for Housing was established, into which This structure traverses many scales, carried employers would make contributions to benefit across not only architectural features and forms individual workers and thus comply with their but also its media representations. While this constitutional obligations. In the same year, apparatus might appear similar to the American INFONAVIT,9 the institution that safeguards suburban model of ownership promoted during the fund, was created to establish a financial the 1950s and 1960s, the historical conditions system to grant housing loans, followed by of the Mexican case are radically different. The other funds such as FOVISSTE, the fund for American model was marked by the end of the state employers. Ever since, generations of war, the return to prosperity, and an ideological institutions and financial bodies have been aversion towards city life. The Mexican case created to facilitate its provision.10 From this is not comparable in scale perhaps until the point until the late 1980s, the social housing 1990s, during the first years of NAFTA when sector was marked by the direct intervention new financial systems were introduced to boost of the State, which oversaw the construction, home ownership. And, unlike the American financing, and allocation of housing. Yet, by case, the move away from city centres was the 1990s the story began to change, with the not a deliberate territorial tactic of distributing presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari. population to the suburbs following any Salinas’ presidency was marked by a specific ideology.7 In the case of Mexico, most remarkable optimism. He saw Mexico at the Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco houses built en-masse were located on city cusp of a new and prosperous era, and his task Livia Corona Benjamin, image from Two Million Homes for Mexico, 2012. outskirts as an ad-hoc strategy that ultimately the promotion of greater market competition. failed to bring work and living together in a His administration was marked by a series of retreating from its role in the construction, allowing ejidatarios—those who hold shares convenient spatial relation. In what follows, reforms of the most distinctive articles of the design, and planning of housing units. These in common lands—to sell, rent or mortgage this apparatus will be unpacked through an Mexican Constitution,11 and a strong belief changes promoted the conditions that not only their land parcels. For the first time in history, analysis of the contemporary conditions of that the massive expansion of credit would led to the rise of private developers but also ejidos were open to the market. This reform private property using two exemplary housing empower the population. Extending the provided a mechanism by which to solidify stimulated a creeping privatization of ejido developments in Greater Mexico City. In this “freedoms” of the neoliberal horizon, Salinas a generalized desire for home ownership in land, which consolidated large sections in the way, we can read the impact of the NAFTA campaigned heavily for the right of workers Mexico. Along these lines, we must recall two hands of a few owners. Despite their remote regime not only as a collection of architectural to choose their property, which led to the paradigmatic cases envisioned under Salinas location and lack of social and infrastructural styles, but in its impact on the urban scale opening of the housing market to more private with direct implications for the domestic services, some ejidos have been used for through three actions: owning, possessing, contractors, and more importantly, to the landscape of Greater Mexico City: ejidos and mortgage-driven urbanization. This form of and building. separation of financial and construction sectors. the development of Santa Fe. development—more often referred to as “Casas This effort was concretized in 1992 when Ejidos are the traditional form of common Geo”13, the name of the largest home builder Owning INFONAVIT—which had overseen the location, agrarian land, originally separated from urban in Mexico—has been used, for the most part, construction, design, pricing, and target group conglomerations and protected under Article 27 for the construction of low-income housing The desire for home-ownership in Mexico is of its housing credit—was dedicated only of the Federal Constitution. Curiously, around backed up by the large amount of credit granted nothing new. In fact, it could be traced back to the administration of the fund.12 In other the same time of the NAFTA negotiations, by the federal government agency INFONAVIT. to the revolutionary era, specifically with the words, the institution became entirely financial, the productivity of this system came into These projects consist of compounds Federal Constitution of 1917. Under article 123, investing funds in the stock exchange, and question, and in 1991 the article was reformed comprising hundreds of identical, single-family 62 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 63 The Apparatus of Ownership

Camacho Solis, the mayor of Mexico City at the Casas Geo and other large housing developers time. Together, they envisioned a new urban declaring insolvency,16 the model is still at centre that would render legible the economic work today in many developments in greater phase that Mexico was about to enter because Mexico City. Aside from the revenue that of NAFTA. In brief, Santa Fe provided a new it generates, the emphasis on ownership model of private property at a scale rarely seen has prompted a major shift in the collective in Mexico City. consciousness,17 transforming the idea of a While independent analyses of these types constitutionally protected worker receiving of developments are indeed very important, common social services into that of an amateur what have been generally overlooked are the investor who owns a home mortgage, a stock various relations between them. Both cases portfolio, a private pension, etc. This tendency materialize territorial reforms and visions that draws citizens to prioritize their own desires, were accelerated by NAFTA. Both were made focusing only on their own conditions rather possible through pubic partnerships. Both than access to social services, social security, are strategies that bind urban development, collective goods, etc. Indeed, a “society” private property, and credit into a single spatial based on ownership is something of an aporia. process that cuts across all scales and socio- Ideally, such a society would consist only of economic sectors in Mexico City. From the low- the figures of the owner and the enterprise, income Casas Geo to the exuberant housing who see their world around them functioning developments of Santa Fe, neither of these also as enterprises, where basic services and projects could have been built, commercialized, social institutions become potential sites for or even imagined without a massive expansion accumulation and profit, and everything in of credit to the housing sector. As Maurizio society is measured economically.18 As for Lazzarato has recently suggested, under the State, its role involves securing the right the contemporary Western logic of capital conditions for the market to expand from its accumulation, sooner or later, everybody will former, limited domain into all aspects of life. A housing development in Santa Fe, Mexico City. enter into a credit-debt relation.14 In other Not only has the role of the market changed, houses with minimal social or infrastructural entire districts of Mexico City—mega-projects words, most subjects that play a part in the but so too its focus. It is no longer the “natural” Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco services. Despite their use of tropes like such as Santa Fe. Previously a garbage dump, process of home ownership, independently tendency for human beings to exchange, as bright colours, ornamental motifs, and small Santa Fe occupies a privileged site next to the of the particularities of the transaction, will Adam Smith postulated, but to compete, and recreational facilities, the overall appearance is most affluent area of Mexico City. Its location become debtors at some point. Moreover, it unrestricted competition has become the disconcerting. Casas Geo’s idea of a dignified makes it the perfect site for a project aimed is his hypothesis that such a relation could organizing principle of the NAFTA marketspace. home is materialized with the bare minimum at providing a new “model” of development become an instrument of government. And, if These drastic changes in consciousness and standards. Most of these developments through public-private partnerships, and so, all debtors—from the developer, to the sub- social formation, promoted in part through have been located on city outskirts and, managed through a private trust. The project contractor, to the buyer—could be subject to ownership, have played a crucial role in unsurprisingly, a lot of them occupy previous has provided around 900 hectares of high-end governmental control independent of amount, reaffirming the neoliberal agenda as a process ejido lands which were privatized at a very low working and living space, comprising glassy or particularities of the situation. As such, both of individualization, which regrettably tends cost. The presence of such compounds is ever corporate headquarters, luxurious housing forms of urbanization bear witness to a mode to neutralize and make irrelevant any form of more common, a typical sight dotting the outer towers, enormous shopping malls, international of governmental intervention that encourages collective action. edges of many Mexican cities. In just a few restaurants, private recreational facilities, and home-ownership not only to encourage general As explained above, most housing decades, the Casas Geo model has managed private universities—all equipped with private economic restructuring, but also to exercise a developments of the last twenty years adhere to significantly exacerbate the urban sprawl in security. Santa Fe presents the standard of very subtle form of integration and control. to a single underlying logic of ownership (based Greater Mexico City. These “new towns” now a well-to-do neighbourhood that could exist In this context, one cannot help but recall in credit) central to the conceptualization, host millions who, despite the lack of coherent anywhere in the world today. While the history George W. Bush’s famous proclamation of the promotion, and materialization of their projects. planning, are able to take part in the practice of of the project well precedes NAFTA, dating “ownership society.”15 Despite the infamy it This logic confirms that the developer’s task is home ownership. back to the early 1980s, its final vision was acquired due to the subprime mortgage crisis not only to build houses, but also to construct On the other side of the socio-economic concretized as “City Santa Fe” in the early in the US, and the bad reputation cheap, low- an edifice of desire around them by mobilizing spectrum is the large-scale restructuring of 1990’s under the guidance of Salinas and income credit is acquiring in Mexico with an aesthetics of ownership through a common 64 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 65 The Apparatus of Ownership visible lexicon. This in turn, reproduces an ethics other mixed-used developments; the renewal marks off property, these walls are defensive, soft coloured stone panels, large windows, of desire around private property, both through of the Alameda Central in the city centre; though everything possible is done to disguise balconies, and resting on immaculately architecture and the media that advertize it. the Super Arena, an entertainment centre in this through the use of materials, colours, manicured, privately enclosed grounds, Azcapotzalco; Ciudad Jardin Bicentenario, surrounding vegetation, etc. Despite this, the development announces itself as the Building a mixed-used district at the site of a former these new developments are reminiscent paterfamilias of all houses. On the other hand, garbage dump in Nezahualcoyotl; the renewal of fortified villages where the protection of Casas Geo’s tokenistic attempt to reclaim the The owner provides a central figure for the of the Financial Corridor in Reforma; Arcos the inhabitants is of the utmost importance, single-family house aims to compensate for neoliberal agenda, which Salinas capitalized on Bosques’ Office District in Bosques de las dividing the evil from the good, the enemy their otherwise minimal standards. The façade, by promoting initiatives that gave momentum Lomas; several residential complexes in from the friend. While the appearances of only four metres in width, appears almost to another one: the developer. Under Salinas, Interlomas; and, of course, Santa Fe and the these defensive walls might change from one scenographic in its endless repetition. While the developer became a prominent intermediary multiple Casas Geo developments. These are development to another, the main features the spaces are small, approximately 45 square figure, negotiating between financial systems, but just a few of the many developer-driven remain the same: surrounding walls, some metres, they can have up to three bedrooms. governmental organisms, and individual projects that have already begun to alter the kind of security technology (from barbed wire Their colourful and textured façades are built owners. This figure’s core task is to expand the fabric of Mexico City. to CCTV cameras), and the promise of retreat with a minimally camouflaged cinderblock realm of private property, securing the ground If Santa Fe’s residential high-rises provide for those allowed to enter. This phenomenon developed specifically by Geo (the “Geo-block”) for the extension of economic plans into all a new typology of dwelling for Mexico City’s is so engrained in the fabric of Mexico that to conceal the ordinariness of the material aspects of life. elite, Casas Geo developments, with their the entrance into a development has become from potential home owners. All these features Several circumstances have facilitated small repeating units of one or two storeys, almost an act of celebration, designed as a are commonly accompanied by a shared this rise to prominence within the urban are specifically designed to house low-income, quasi-triumphal arch. promotional campaign that, comically, seems development of Greater Mexico City. To begin working-class owners. At first glance it would Once inside the walls, a private space is to have been inspired by soap opera scripts with, under Salinas, the housing market ceased seem as if these forms of development would carefully designed with the use of an extensive with proud slogans such as “live in a separate to rely on local transactions, introducing instead be incomparable, each responding to a socio- architectural palette of domesticity, which world,”20 or “a place where life is rewarded,”21 a series of financial and banking systems that economic extreme in Mexico. Yet, upon closer contains a familiar array of vegetation, spacious together with idyllic names that refer to a cove would transfer large sections of capital to inspection their differences seem to be eclipsed balconies, playful colours, recognizable in a lake, forests, a royal setting, or an outlook.22 developers. Secondly, as previously explained, as one analyzes how the diverse typologies materials, and recreational facilities that all Both forms of development refer back to Salinas promoted the privatization of large relate back to the ideal of the single-family coordinate to help conceal the many walls of basic characteristics of the proverbial single- sections of land, either systematically, as with private home, which precedes and transcends the property. The palette marks the careful family house from which an ideological the ejidos, or prototypically, as in his vision both projects. In fact, the single-family house effort to declare in stone the respectful habitat apparatus of ownership draws its reference. Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco for Santa Fe. Tellingly, Salinas seemed to have has marked generations of urban development where an economically integrated society could These are but a few of the common traits and measured economic success by the number of in Mexico City, arguably since the colonial dwell. Curiously, while the palette has many tropes that expose a certain aesthetics mortgages granted, even if they were given period, in which this basic unit is repeated architectural variations, the most popular by of ownership, a visible order that operates with minimum solvency. With privatization, endlessly across the entire valley. far is a sort of neo-colonial style, which is used across class divisions and exposes a homo- financing mechanisms, the release of large This typology of the typical suburban house with great pride to adorn large, well-off houses, genous set of desires through the careful tracts of land, and loose urban regulations, has come to act as an ideological device whose but it is also used by aspirational projects by cosmetics of private property. developers increased their scale of operation, primary emphasis on the private sphere is Casas Geo that aspire to the predefined middle and equipped with all the required tools began marked by the ubiquitous property wall, which and upper-middle class tastes—as if by applying Possessing expanding the city outwards. Since NAFTA, not only safeguards the fantastic interior world the neo-colonial palette the promise of social with precedents like Santa Fe, megaprojects only possible inside its boundaries, but also mobility will be fulfilled. Both developments The desire to posses a house continues to have become a very common form of private renders material its most basic condition as in question are located at the edge of the city, capture the imagination of many Chilangos. development across Greater Mexico. Among private property. Most houses’ basic condition where they have carved out their plots with a Yet it is here where a simple but important them, the most prominent are: Campus of existence is predicated on the extrusion of total disregard to their immediate context; this contradiction arises: to possess of course Biometropolis, a medical and research centre the legal boundaries, solidified in a continuous is but an expression of the very same illusion of also means to be possessed or subjected to in the southern part of the city, designed by perimeter wall, which in turn, reproduces domestic success whose point of departure is the conditions, behaviour or circumstances Norman Foster; the Nuevo Polanco Masterplan, the desire for interiority. Enclosed by walls, a always a separation from the outside world. of a given object of desire. The possession or the so-called “Mexican Manhattan,”19 which precious domestic space is delimited, a quasi- Furthermore, the luxurious high-rises of Santa of the house thus interrelates an ideological contains around 24 developments including temple in which an interior fantasy vindicates Fe, typical of other affluent parts of Mexico mechanism with a legal framework, a visible Plaza Carso designed by Fernando Romero, the itself in contrast to the uncertainties of the City, create a landmark of domesticity in itself. order, and an economic strategy into what I call Miyana Complex designed by Legorreta, and outside world. Beyond creating a limit that With towers on average of 20 storeys, with an “apparatus of ownership.” 66 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 67 The Apparatus of Ownership

LA CASA QUE TE CAMBIA LA VIDA. EL CEN- A HOME THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. THE TRO DE LA EXCLUSIVIDAD. EL MEJOR LUGAR CENTRE OF EXCLUSIVITY. THE BEST PLACE PARA VIVIR. DONDE LA CIUDAD COBRA VIDA. IN WHICH TO LIVE. WHERE THE CITY COMES AQUI SE CONSTRUYEN TUS SUEÑOS. VIVE TO LIFE. YOUR DREAMS WILL BE BUILT HERE. EN UN MUNDO APARTE. LE FACILITAMOS EL LIVE IN A WORLD APART. WE EASE YOUR CAMINO A CASA. SIEMPRE LO MEJOR. DATE WAY HOME. ALWAYS THE BEST. LIVE LIKE VIDA DE DUEÑO. LA CIUDAD TIENE SUS PRIV- AN OWNER. THE CITY HAS ITS PRIVILEGES. ILEGIOS. UN DESTINO UNICO, DONDE LA A UNIQUE DESTINY, WHERE YOU CAN LIVE VIDA PUEDE VIVIRSE DE OTRA MANERA. UNA YOUR LIFE DIFFERENTLY. A HOUSE THAT CASA QUE RESPETA LO QUE ERES Y LO QUE RESPECTS WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU HAS LOGRADO. AHORA SÍ PUEDES. TODO A HAVE ACHIEVED. NOW YOU CAN. EVERY- TU ALCANCE. UN ESPACIO RESERVADO PARA THING WITHIN YOUR REACH. A SPACE RE- TU FAMILIA. TU CASA A TU ALCANCE. LA VIDA SERVED JUST FOR YOU. A HOME WITHIN COMO TU LA QUIERES VER. UN LUGAR A TU YOUR REACH. LIFE AS YOU WANT TO SEE IT. ALTURA. QUE ESPERAS PARA VIVIR CON- A PLACE WORTHY OF YOU. WHAT ARE YOU SENTIDO. AMA DONDE VIVES. EL LUGAR EN WAITING FOR TO SPOIL YOURSELF? LOVE

DONDE LA VIDA SE VE RECOMPENSADA. TU WHERE YOU LIVE. THE PLACE WHERE LIFE IS Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco NUEVA DIRECCION. UN LUGAR EN DONDE SI REWARDED. YOUR NEW ADDRESS. A PLACE SE PUEDE CAMINAR EN LA CALLE … Y SEN- WHERE YOU ACTUALLY CAN WALK ON THE TIRSE SEGURO. HAZTE DUEÑO. CASAS QUE STREETS…AND FEEL SAFE. BECOME AN RESPONDEN A TODAS TUS NECESIDADES. OWNER. HOUSES THAT RESPOND TO YOUR MAS QUE UNA CASA. LA MEJOR INVERSION NEEDS. MORE THAN A HOUSE. THE BEST IN- DE TU VIDA. MI MUNDO IDEAL. VIVE LA VIDA VESTMENT OF YOUR LIFE. MY IDEAL WORLD. DE VERDAD. PONTE LA CAMISETA DE DUE- LIVE LIFE TRULY. WEAR THE OWNER’S SHIRT. ÑO. VIVIR NO ES SOLO ESTAR EN TU CASA. LIVING DOES NOT ONLY MEAN BEING AT SOLO BUENAS EXPERIENCIAS. LA LLAVE DE HOME. ONLY GOOD EXPERIENCES. THE KEY TUS SUEÑOS. EL LUGAR PERFECTO PARA VI- TO YOUR DREAMS. THE PERFECT PLACE IN VIR. CAMBIA TU FUTURO. WHICH TO LIVE. CHANGE YOUR FUTURE.

“Words that count.” Slogan compilation by the author. 68 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 69 The Apparatus of Ownership

external, affective environment in which Homo Notes Publico (SHCP), “El no. 1 (March–April impulso al sector 2000): 8–12, http:// Economicus dwells. 1 vivienda,” Informe www.diputados. In the world of Homo Economicus, Margaret Thatcher, Semanal del gob.mx/cronica57/ Statecraft, Vocero, 24–28 contenido/cont13/ aesthetics has become a fundamental ground (London: Harper June 2013, http:// masalla3.htm#edi. for the production and reproduction of Collins Publishers www.shcp.gob. Limited, 2003) mx/SALAPRENSA/ 11 individual desires, and the possession of private doc_informe_vo- During Salinas’ property has become its official vehicle. Private 2 cero/2013/voc- administration, Ibid., 404. ero_26_2013.pdf. more than 34 property thus transcends individual desires, articles of the connecting instead with a wider economic 3 6 constitution were Along these For Agamben, modified. and governmental strategy where the charming lines, it must be an apparatus is See Francisco aesthetic traits of developments are anything remembered that “literally anything Gil Villegas in Mexico, the path that has in some Montiel, “Cambio but innocent. In this post-NAFTA world, towards neoliberal way the capacity constitucional en our interests have become part of double bind development began to capture, México durante years earlier under orient, determine, el sexenio de at once liberating us from and integrating the administration intercept, model, Carlos Salinas de us within a mechanism of great proportions. of President José control, or secure Gortari,” Foro López Portillo (1976­ the gestures, Internactional It is a new world, where living is constantly –1982). However, behaviours, 36, no. 1/2 suspended between an economy of desires and neoliberal strate- opinions, or (January–June gies dramatically discourses of 1996): 158–187. their possible fulfillment via private property— took hold with the living beings.” See yet it is not private property itself, but rather constitutional Giorgio Agamben, 12 changes brought What Is An See Diario Jenny Holzer, “Mind Your Own,” from Truisms, 1984. the environment of desires that private property about by President Apparatus? And Oficial de la puts in constant flux, motivating all our actions. Carlos Salinas de Other Essays, Federacion Gortari (1988–1994). (Stanford: Stanford Mexicana, 24 This apparatus operates indistinctly even further, proposing that this could only For a critical analy- University Press, February 1992, The throughout the population, but it is flexible be achieved if the government incorporated sis of the process 2009), 1–25. Decree regarding towards neolib- the INFONAVIT enough to cater to the personal interests of not only the rational behaviour, but also the eralism in Mexico 7 Law. Also see each individual and his or her socio-economic irrational conduct of this ideal individual and its specific Robert A. Beatriz García relation to NAFTA, Beauregard,. When Peralta and Andreas expectations. This apparatus also entails a into its calculations. These forms of conduct refer to Irmgard America Became Hofer, “Housing for particular subjectivity, and a particular form would then be set in play against a new set of Emmelhainz’s paper Suburban, the Working Class in this issue. Also, (Minneapolis: On the Periphery of governance. It is a subjectivity anticipated environmental factors, making a sophisticated see David Harvey, University of of Mexico City,” Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco by the Nobel laureate and influential American new form of economic analysis that A Brief History Minnesota Press, Social Justice of Neoliberalism 2006), 1–39. 33, no. 3 (2006): economist Gary S. Becker, which he referred incorporates both spatial and psychological (Oxford: The Oxford 129–141. to as the new Homo Economicus.23 This considerations into a single programme. He University Press, 8 2005), 7. See Federal 13 version of Homo Economicus is, according suggested that the task of government, in Constitution of While Casas Geo is to Becker, a subject that looks to his environ- doing this, was to focus on providing stimuli to 4 Mexico, Article 123, the largest home- Elaine Bernard, Fraction XII. builder in Mexico, ment to satisfy his interests, unquestionably individuals through an environmental milieu— “What’s the other developers accepting “reality” and embracing it as through the construction of “reality.” With matter with 9 operating in the NAFTA,” Radical INFONAVIT is the same manner are the totality of his given circumstances. With this, he hinted that a government would not America, 1994, National Institute Desarrolladora this concept Becker took the ideas of people only help the individual achieve her interests, http://www.law. Fund for Workers’ Homex, Grupo Ara, harvard.edu/pro- Housing (Instituto Urbi, Sare, Sadasi, like Friedrich Hayek, Walter Eucken, and Milton but in fact, by doing so, it would produce more grams/lwp/nafta. del Fondo Nacional among others. Friedman to a whole new level, envisioning of them. In other words, power could now be pdf. de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores). 14 a world in which impediments to the pursuit used to promote an economy of interests; a 5 Its law was See Maurizio of self-interest would be removed and systematic way of placing the most individual According to the published in Diario Lazzarato, The Ministry of Finance Oficial de la Making of individual freedom would find no obstructions. of desires and behaviours (both rational and Public Credit in Federacion on 24 the Indebted And for this, he constructed a new politico- and irrational)—and the complex, sensual Mexico, the housing April 1972. Man, (New York: shortage in Mexico Semiotext(e), 2012), economic model centred on “economic man.” environment in which they materialize—at of nine million 13–37. At the core of his model is the suggestion that the core of an economic model. Becker’s form homes represents 10 31% of the private See Luis de Pablo 15 governments could benefit by placing their of neoliberalism would go on to expand its inhabited houses Serna, “La política The concept focus and centering their calculations on the domain to account for the mediation between in the country. de vivienda en of “ownership See Secretaria de México,” Crónica society” became individual’s personal interests. Becker went personal interests and the composition of the Hacienda y Credito Legislativa 13, President George 70 Scapegoat 6 Mexico DF / NAFTA 71 The Populist City

W. Bush’s banner The Nation, 18 Carolina Alba & Javier Toscano freedoms as an involuntary consequence, during his re-election February 2008. campaign in 2004 rather than reasoned choice. As one analyst to persuade the 18 argued: “Fearing international repercussions, American people that See Michel privatising Social Foucault, Birth The Populist the Mexican government could no longer afford Security could open of Biopolitics: to repress a political movement, as [president] conditions in which Lectures at individuals would the Collège De Salinas did in early 1994 with the Zapatistas, be empowered France 1978-79, nor keep political participation an exclusive and and could become ed. Michel Senellart City owners of their own and François Ewald, exclusionary game, run unfair and predictable destiny. His aim was trans. Graham Mexico City is a highly complex urban elections or offer loyalty and accountability in to significantly super- Burchell Basingstoke 5 sede state-sponsored London: Palgrave organism. Sophisticated and harsh at the same exchange for benefits.” social services with Macmillan, 2010), time, the city poses different political challenges It could be said that, in a way, democracy a more profitable 51­–128. market strategy. For on every front. Since the city functions as was involuntarily imported into the city. more on this refer to: 19 the country’s financial, cultural, and political Without a deep-rooted tradition of democratic Susanne Soederberg, Josefina Quintero, “Freedom, Owner- “El Manhattan heart, every action, every protest, every deed practices, nor the existence of strong ship, and Social (In-) mexicano, nuevo that takes place within its streets resonates democratic institutions that could channel Security in the Unite boom inmobiliario,” States,” Cultural La Jornada, 5 nationally. The political complexity in the city disagreements, conflict, or dissent, the newly Critique 65 (Winter November 2012 makes up a complex scene where emerging elected officials faced a much different political 2007): 92-114. http://www. jornada.unam. political figures from different corners of the landscape. On the one hand, this implied an 16 mx/2012/11/05/ country react to growing civilian engagement, exercise in fine-tuning democratic objectives In the last few years, capital/037n1cap. Casas Geo owners the latter organized into many independent at the level of discourse, and sometimes even have abandoned 20 organizations working towards wider public in concrete actions.6 On the other, it also a large number Real Estate Cumbres 1 of homes on the de Santa Fe’s scrutiny over the former. This was already encouraged politicians to master the use outskirts of several marketing slogan is beginning before 1997, under the PRI’s regime,2 of the political tools at hand for their own Mexican cities after “Vive en un mundo finding the long com- aparte,” http://www. but it became even more evident after the survival, such as the construction and operation mutes unbearable cumbresdesantafe. elections that year,3 when the leftist opposition of new political platforms, the promotion and struggling with com.mx. the lack of municipal party PRD took control of the city with ample of majority concerns, and the political use services, such as run- 21 support.4 of economic resources. However, these ning water. Parallel Grupo Loma’s to this, in the second Mirador marketing The political reform that led to those arrangements departed at the same time half of 2013, the slogan is “El lugar elections, the first for the capital city, was from a simple and clear-cut understanding of Carolina Alba & Javier Toscano shares of the largest en donde la vida se home builders in ve recompensada,” bolstered by the economic changes brought transparent democratic practice, leading to the Mexico—including http://www. in with NAFTA in 1994. But this did not occur intrusion of a rather different political logic: Casas Geo, Grupo grupoloma.com.mx/ Ara, Sare, Ruba, Urbi home.html. as part of a natural political evolution. After a form of populism within democracy as a and Desarrolladora the 1995 economic crisis (caused by internal political rationale that, as we will see, focuses Homex—plunged 22 dramatically, their For example, Casas economic and political complications), on discourse and the dynamic formation of input reduced from Geo has named some politicians were not fully aware of the political identities through new forms and uses of local previous years; they of its complexes 7 are currently moving “Rinconada de la implications of the economic structural policies. In what follows, we will delve into towards a restructur- Languna,” “Real adjustments demanded by the international these configurations to better understand ing of their debt. The Santa Clara,” model seems to have “Provenzal del lending institutions financing the indebted how they have constructed a tangible political hit a turning point. Bosque,” among nation. The economic treaty created a vastly mechanism; specifically we will examine two For more on this, others. In Santa Fe, see Iváan Restrepo, you find complexes different relationship with the US and the case studies where this political rationale has “Burbuja inmobili- with names like international community, to whom Mexican resulted in a consistent policy with concrete aria a la Mexicana,” “Cumbres Santa Fe,” La Jornada, 15 “Mirador,” etc. authorities wanted to appear more legitimate. urban consequences. July 2013, http:// Following the increasing liberalization of the www.jornada.unam. 23 mx/2013/07/15/ See Michel economy, the government began accepting Understanding populism and the nature of opinion/024a1pol. Foucault, Birth of restrictions on its behaviour, allowing Mexico the populist demand Biopolitics, 269. 17 to be subject to the continuous scrutiny of the See Naomi Klein,. international community. The new economic Populism is a controversial term, and the “Disowned by the Ownership Society,” environment thus granted new political diversity of its definitions is staggering. With