Xochimilco es Hogar: Place Attachment and Belonging in Mexico City By M. Bin Jung B.A. with Honors in African American Studies Wesleyan University Middletown, CT (2008) Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ;!SACHUSETTS INSTITUTE TECHNOLOGY June 2014 )F © 2014 M. Bin Jung. All Rights Reserved JUN 19 201 The author hereby grants to MIT the permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of the thesis document in whole -BR ARIES or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Author Signature redacted Department of Urban Studies and Planning May 22,2014 (1A__ Certified by ignature' redacted Associate Professor J. Phillip Thompson Department of Urban Studies and Planning Signature redacted Thesis Supervisor Accepted by----- Associate Professor P. Christopher Zegras 6/I Chair, MCP Committee Department of Urban Studies and Planning 2 Xochimilco es Hogar: Place Attachment and Belonging in Mexico City 3 ABSTRACT Xochimilco es Hogar: Mexico City is a sprawling megalopolis of 22 million inhabitants Place Attachment and Belonging with new residents moving into the city daily. The city's growth is spatially in Mexico City uneven; the southern delegation of Xochimilco has been experiencing rapid M. Bin Jung urbanization whereas the city center has experienced less. The thesis focuses on Submitted to the Department of Urban the experiences and concerns of a group of young people who participated in the Studies and Planning on May 21, 2014 in photography project Xochimilco es Hogar ('Xochimilco is Home') in January partial fulfillment of the requirements for the 2014. Participants were asked a series of questions about the photographing degree of Master in City Planning process and their images, along with questions about identity, belonging, and Thesis Supervisor: J. Phillip Thompson community in Xochimilco and in Mexico City. Finally, participants were asked Associate Professor what they would change about Xochimilco. Photographs and interviews were Urban Studies and Planning analyzed according to Setha Low's model of aspects of place attachment and M. Thesis Reader: Ceasar McDowell Carmen Hidalgo and Bernardo Hernandez's study of place attachment across Professor of the Practice different spatial scales while being mindful of the politics of place. Participants Urban Studies and Planning were highly aware of the planning issues faced by Xochimilco, and I analyze their concerns about environmental sustainability, public safety and security, and transportation and mobility. This thesis concludes by connecting participant experiences to the structural violence of the state, and offering proposals on how place attachment can help planning practice create more equitable cities. 4 5 DEDICATION for Kelsey. 6 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In no way is this thesis the greatest learning of my two years here at DUSP, so in this moment I give thanks to all those who have helped me make this time what it is now and what it will be in the future. Thankyou MISTI-Mexico, Griselda Gomez, and the Lloyd and Nadine Rodwin Travel Grant for providing me with the opportunity to live and research in Mexico City. Thank you to my thesis team of Phil Thompson and Ceasar McDowell, and to Xavier de Souza Briggs, Gabriella Carolini, Harriette Crawford, and Larry Vale for their teachings and guidance. Supreme thanks to Karilyn Crockett, who has been a tremendous light and guide for my research and my work in just one short semester. Thank you to all my friends in and out of DUSP who have helped me build my life through joy, sadness, anxiety, challenge, laughter, and success. It is through your companionship that I realize how blessed I am, how far I've come, and what I'm capable of doing. And to my parents and my brother: I would not be here without your endless support and love. This thesis exists because of the enthusiasm of Adrian Jim6nez at the Carlos Pellicer Cultural Center, the graciousness of Ana Medina and Daniel Palencia, and all the participants in Xochimilco es Hogar.Thank you so much for sharing your photographs and stories with me. Finally, I would have not been able to enjoy this time without the faith of Edgar Castellanos, and so I thank you for your time and love. I dedicate my past two years at MIT to Kelsey Rennebohm, who gave me New York, Seattle, and Brookline, and who taught me what it meant to be home. I love you. 8 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 4 Ideological aspect of place attachment Dedication 6 The Nifiopa and the axolotl Acknowledgements 8 Table of Contents 10 Chapter Five: Scales of Belonging 58 Three scales Chapter One: Introduction 12 Delegation: Xochimilco Research question Region: The southern delegations Methodology City: Distrito Federal Research outline Imagined futures Chapter Two: Literature Review 19 Chapter Six: Conclusion 70 Definitions of place and place attachment Concerns Approaches to place attachment Environmental sustainability and pollution Anthropology Public safety and security Sociological Transportation and mobility Urban planning The value of place attachment in planning Chapter Three: Data and Photo Analysis 29 Works Cited 85 Participant Profiles Key concepts and themes Appendix 87 Project Prompt Chapter Four: Aspects of Attachment 49 Interview Questions Socio-political aspect of place attachment Final Exhibition Immediate families and mothers Participant Photos Other kinship ties 10 11 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 'Ihis thesis is a brief portion of my personal reflection uneven; the southern delegations 2 of Xochimilco and Tlihuac and investigation into the concept of home. During my time at have been experiencing rapid urbanization whereas the city MIT I have been forced to think deeply about home and what it center has experienced less. Due to the lack of affordable land means to me past, present, and future. Home is a simultaneously and housing in the city, many new migrants have taken to easy and difficult concept to analyze, and relies heavily on filling in the pre-Hispanic system of canals and floating islands, feelings, emotions, and experiences. I believe community is a also known as chinampas or chinampera zone, in the southern shared experienced based on place and shared social interaction, delegations to build informal settlements. Xochimilco existed and that it is often seen as an extension of home. Home and as an independent township before incorporation into Mexico community are incredibly powerful feelings and motivations, City, and during this time provided Mexico City with much and this thesis is a brief look into the experience of home and of its agriculture. The chinampera zone has been designated a community for a group of young people in Xochimilco, Mexico UNESCO World Heritage Site and is under environmental City. conservation by the city. I was drawn to conduct research in Mexico City, also known as Distrito Federal (DF),' is Xochimilco because of its history, isolation, rapid urbanization, a sprawling megalopolis of 22 million inhabitants with new and unique ecological landscape. residents moving into the city daily. DF's growth is spatially Mexico City is called Distrito Federal in Spanish, which is then abbreviated to DF. 'Ihis thesis uses all three terms interchangeably. 2 Mexico City is made up of eighteen delegations, or boroughs. 12 Research question sustainability and pollution, public safety and security, and This thesis examines how place attachment analysis can transportation and mobility. I argue place attachment research is help planners better understand what is at stake for communities a method by which to better understand the systematic injustice in re/development projects in Xochimilco, Mexico City and aid experienced by marginalized communities on a daily basis, in the creation of ajust city. This thesis focuses on the experiences and that the connctions people make with place are a powerful and concerns of a group of young people who participated in the location for empowerment and creating social change. photography project Xochimilco es Hogar in January 2014. This thesis assesses photographs and interviews by project Research methodology participants and analyzes them according to two different themes This thesis is based on narrative understanding and of place attachment: socio-political/ideological aspect of place place attachment theory of a group of eight young people who attachment as outlined by Setha Low, and place attachment participated in the photography project, Xochimilco es Hogar, in across different spatial scales as researched by M. Carmen the delegation of Xochimilco in Mexico City in January 2014. Hidalgo and Bernardo Hernandez. This thesis also highlights Mexico City was selected because of my personal interest in the the planning concerns brought forth by project participants, the city, and Xochimilco was chosen because of its unique culture, majority of which fell into the broad categories of environmental history, and location in the south of the city. The southern ' Xochimilco es Hogartranslates to 'Xochimilco is Home.' 13 delegations of Mexico City are experiencing rapid urbanization and his/her photographs to understand his/her process and whereas the central city's growth is more steady, and I believed images. it would be interesting to capture young people's experiences of Cesar, Erika, and Misael were interviewed together, this urbanization. Samantha and Diana were interviewed together, and the others, The bulk of this thesis relies on primary research con- Daniela, Denisse, and Abigail, were interviewed individually. ducted during January 2014 in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Cesar, Erika, and Misael were at the Cultural Center at the Research data is the photographs taken by project participants same time and they preferred to be interviewed as a group rather and the semi-structured interviews conducted with each than individually. Samantha and Diana were also present at participant and their photographs. Xochimilco es Hogar was run the Cultural Center at the same time and expressed the same through the Carlos Pellicer Cultural Center in Xochimilco and preference.