2.2 Describe the central issue, theme, or objective of the practice

The territory of San Miguel Teotongo has been managed by its residents since the 1970s through their struggle to be recognized as part of the city from the periphery. This social organization carried out various stages of land-use planning, ranging from street layout to the definition of public spaces for communal use. 

In 2019, the Copevi team was invited by the social organization Unión de Colonos de San Miguel Teotongo (UCSMT) to support the next phase of land-use planning.

The practice benefits residents of the San Miguel Teotongo neighborhood in Iztapalapa in various ways: 

1. neighbors who actively participated by sharing their community knowledge and contributing ideas to visualize their territory.
2. the Unión de Colonos de San Miguel Teotongo, which advocated at the Iztapalapa Mayor’s Office for a territorial planning process as an example of tripartite collaboration between local government, a territorial organization, and civil society within the framework of Mexico City’s (CDMX) planning process.

The defined territory covers 311 hectares with a population of 65,424 inhabitants (INEGI, 2020).

The Participatory Land-Use Planning Project in San Miguel Teotongo (POTP-SMT) was carried out in collaboration with the Unión de Colonos de San Miguel Teotongo (UCSMT), which has been strengthened by its participation in a new phase of land-use planning and now has a land-use plan featuring an updated assessment and a 20-year vision, along with a portfolio of prioritized projects.

• Participatory land-use planning process in a low-income urban neighborhood in the east of Mexico City.
• Participation of a social organization (UCSMT) with 50 years of activtiy in the area. Direct involvement of 489 residents in the diagnostic phase: 330 women and 159 men.
• Outputs: Two development agendas (north and south) (2019), a Participatory Land-Use Planning Project (2021–2022), and a portfolio of strategic projects.
• Survey of current land use (2021) of the 10,047 lots that make up the San Miguel Teotongo Zone.
• Pursuit of the “radical care for the environment” approach through socio-ecological transformation initiatives: eco-friendly homes, domestic water management.

The Political Constitution of Mexico City (2017) guarantees the Right to the City through, among other things, planning instruments, and establishes the path to this in the General Development Plan, as well as the partial programs of neighborhoods, towns, and indigenous communities. 

This experience serves as a model of “bottom-up” planning.

This experience documents the value of participatory planning as part of the processes of Social Production and Management of Habitat, where the population, social organizations, and socio-technical support teams navigate different stages depending on the consolidation of the territory and their visions regarding the commons and socio-ecological transformation.

Since the 1970s, organized communities have defended public space against the sale and overdevelopment of lots designated for residential use. The Unión de Colonos de San Miguel Teotongo was a co-founder of the National Coordinating Committee of the Popular Urban Movement (CONAMUP). Partnerships with public universities and civil society organizations have strengthened the capacity to develop technical, social, and environmental proposals for the development of the territory and its population. Many of these initiatives are now part of Mexico City’s public policy.

At this stage, Copevi’s current team is engaging with the third and fourth generations of the territorial process; therefore, it was important to rebuild ties, recognize historical milestones, share approaches to the social production of habitat and socio-ecological transformation, and establish an agenda for monitoring progress across various lines of work.

The concept of territorial justice is intertwined with climate justice in the experiences of social production of habitat sustained by grassroots organizations over decades. Alliances with academia and civil society have been formed to generate knowledge and plans that are in the hands of citizens and able to propose territorial strategies in response to new challenges.