Transformacja od społeczeństwa wiejskiego do miejskiego. Urbanizacja Meksyku w XX i początku XXI wieku
Transformation from a rural to an urban society. Urbanization of Mexico in the 20th and early 21st centuries

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to investigate the process of urbanization in Mexico between 1900 and 2020. Particular attention was paid to determining spatial changes in the level of urbanization by regions and states. The study included localities with more than 2,500 inhabitants, this value being the lower limit for obtaining urban rights. In light of the opinions of local researchers, not all such centers already had fully developed urban characteristics, which is especially true for the data from the first half of the 20th century. However, such a broad approach makes it possible to include in the study the entire population classified in the censuses as urban. Available data indicate that Mexico experienced an urbanization boom during the period under analysis. In 1900, only 10.5% of the more than 13.6 million population lived in cities, and only two of them had more than 100,000 residents while not exceeding 0.5 million. By 2020, the urban population had grown nearly 70-fold to reach 99.3 million, while Mexico’s population had only increased more than 9-fold, bringing the urbanization rate to 78.8%. Such a rapid expansion of urbanization nationwide has also led to significant transformations in its spatial distribution, manifested mainly in a decline in the dominance of Mexico City and the surrounding central region in the level of urbanization. As a result, this has led to a situation in which the country’s contemporary urban network is more polycentric in nature.

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