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Atlas of Guadalajara: The study of land in the metropolitan zone

Edith Jimenez et al.
University of Guadalajara

The aim of the research project "Atlas of land production in the metropolitan zone of Guadalajara, 1970-2000", financed by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt), was to strengthen local capacity and facilitate the transfer of specialized knowledge to local governments.

Here we describe the objectives of the project in detail and specify some of the practical problems we have had to face transferring skills and knowledge to local governments. We also present some of the information garnered into the Atlas and point out the urgency of bringing new geographical information systems into use in order to systematize statistical and geographical data that can help us to understand the changes in land production and occupation.

The facts and figures on land incorporation during 30 years are sorted, analyzed and displayed in visual form in such a way as to then provide fresh data making it possible to plan the growth of this large metropolis (with approximately 3 750 000 inhabitants) strategically and effectively.

The Guadalajara conurbation includes three other municipalities, Zapopan, Tonala and Tlaquepaque. Each of these three municipalities, which are very unequal in terms of population and resources, registers a higher rate of population increase than Guadalajara, which is now nearly all urbanized. The Atlas provides us with a methodology for obtaining, systematizing and analysing urban information. It also homogenizes and systematizes information on urban land production in all four of the local administrations, providing them with a common platform. Finally, it serves for the empirical testing of new information technologies used to analyze cities.