History
After almost six hundred years of remaining the axis of the political, economic and social activities of Mexico City, whether with the old Mexica Empire, the viceroyalty of New Spain or independent Mexico, the area of the old islet and the old colonial center of the city, a process of decentralization began in the era of the Porfiriato, driven by the growing urban and demographic expansion, driven by the economic development experienced by the country; Many business centers, public institutions or social and popular meeting points moved to the new limits of the city.
However, the founding of the National University of Mexico (current UNAM) on September 22, 1910, became the event that allowed sustaining the relevance and dynamics of the central area of the Mexican capital, due to the establishment of the so-called University Neighborhood, a generic name with which the historic center was referred to, when the cluster of schools, administrative offices, student housing and research or dissemination centers of the University were located in the old colonial buildings and nineteenth-century buildings. abandoned. This produced a phenomenon of revitalization of the area, as it generated a chain of shops, entertainment centers, supply points and urban infrastructure linked to the academic and social life of students, teachers, authorities and staff of the university.[38].
Despite the socioeconomic dynamism generated by the Barrio Universitario, the aftermath of the Mexican revolution in the capital between 1911 and 1930, produced a progressive abandonment, in terms of conservation, of the public buildings or monuments in the area. Even with the presence of the University, many of the buildings entered a phase of disinterest or neglect, generating partial losses in the artistic heritage, the degradation of facades or interiors and the replacement of original architectural elements with modern styles. In the 1920s, by presidential decree the protection of the main buildings of the capital's Zócalo "Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City)") (Cathedral and National Palace "Palacio Nacional (México)") and Calle de Moneda was ordered, although this was not extended to the rest of the area.
In the 1930s, within the framework of revolutionary nationalism that, in the historical-artistic aspect, conceived the conservation of monuments, buildings and urban elements with heritage value, as a duty that protected cultural identity; A way of thinking began to develop between authorities and inhabitants to seek the correct use and care of the properties, vindicating the importance of the historic center.[39].
On November 20, 1952, the UNAM University City "University City (National Autonomous University of Mexico)") was inaugurated, a huge university campus that would house all the institutions of the highest house of studies, so everything that had resided in the historic center for 42 years was moved there. This meant the abandonment of all urban and socioeconomic elements linked to university life. Buildings of all types were unoccupied, and their surrounding streets empty, without lighting or street furniture, causing problems with street traffic or crime; The owners of the homes raised rental costs in order to survive, further distancing the permanent population from the place, then they were frozen and the effect was a decline in quality in the housing; Businesses changed direction or closed permanently, attracting visitors who encouraged problems of antisocial behavior such as crime. Added to all this were the urban projects of the capital's governments, which prioritized the expansion of the western and northern areas of the city, excluding the development of the center of the capital.[40].
The first project to rescue the historic center was proposed by historian José Ezequiel Iturriaga in 1964, however it did not generate enough impact until two events occurred that would serve as a turning point. First, the obtaining in 1962 of the headquarters of the 1968 Olympic Games, which aroused, a year before the 1967 event, the interest of the authorities in the beautification and adaptation of the capital as an Olympic venue, creating the first rescue program of the historic center, which allowed a series of conservation and restoration works on colonial buildings, from the Porfirio era and even those of more recent construction, in which work was also done in urban services such as lighting, cleaning, paving, among others; This year, 1968, was the first time that the term Historic Center was officially used to refer to that area of the city. The second event was the discovery of the ruins of the Templo Mayor on February 21, 1978 by workers from the Compañía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro who were carrying out wiring work for the metro.[41].
This fact generated the interest of authorities, residents and specialists in the restoration of the historic center, which is why two years later, on April 11, 1980, the presidential decree was published that created the so-called Zone of Historical Monuments of the Center of Mexico City, through which the public policies that would intervene in the area for its rehabilitation were outlined and the degrees of responsibility in this were established, not only of the authorities that own the properties, but also of the companies and people who had some property in the area. area. This included improvements to public services such as electricity, drinking water, drainage, cleaning, lighting, markets, paving, asphalt, parks and squares. The nascent tourism industry also became involved through private investment, rebuilding entertainment spaces, as well as expanding the offer of shops and services such as hotels, restaurants, galleries, cinemas and theaters. The project proposed to reposition the area in the public life of the city and the country with the construction of the Poniente Central Bus Terminal and the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro; relocating the General Archive of the Nation "Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico)") in the old Lecumberri Palace; and using the old buildings in the area to house different museums, the first being the National Museum of Art "Museo Nacional de Arte (México)") in the Palacio de las Comunicaciones in Plaza Manuel Tolsá (1982) and the Franz Mayer Museum in the former Hospital of San Juan de Dios (1986).[41].
The earthquake of September 19, 1985, devastated a large part of the historic center, causing a new exodus of inhabitants and merchants, once again putting it in a situation of decline, since consequently much of the infrastructure created until then was neglected, and the damaged buildings reversed the restoration process that had been in place for five years. Fortunately, most of the buildings prior to the second half of the century (that is, the colonial, nineteenth-century, Porfirio and post-revolutionary buildings) remained standing, so the loss of architectural heritage was minimal compared to the modern infrastructure. Thanks to this, a new event was possible that would serve as an impetus to rescue the place. On December 11, 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared the historic center of Mexico City (and included the Xochimilco canal area) as Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Appointment that gave global reach to the site and increased the degree of responsibility for its effective conservation.[41].
After the reconstruction works due to the 1985 earthquakes, the conservation and rehabilitation programs of the historic center in the 1990s (which included the creation of the first Trust for the historic center, although private) focused on the commercial, financial and tourist exploitation of the area with the conditioning of business centers, development of road and transportation infrastructure that favored tourism, as well as the regulation of informal commerce. However, these programs left aside the habitability of the area, excluding permanent residents of houses, condominiums and neighborhoods that presented high degrees of precariousness.[41][42][43].
In December 2000, as one of his first government actions, the Head of Government of the Federal District Andrés Manuel López Obrador, issued a directive for housing policy to concentrate the offer of this public service in the four central delegations (Cuauhtémoc "Cuauhtémoc (Mexico City)"), Venustiano Carranza "Venustiano Carranza (Mexico City)"), Miguel Hidalgo "Miguel Hidalgo (Mexico City)") and Benito Juárez "Benito Juárez (Mexico City)"), as a measure to stop the disorderly growth of the city, repopulate the historic center, boost economic activity in abandoned areas and attract private investment to improve tourist infrastructure.
On August 15, 2001, the Consultative Council for the Rescue of the Historic Center, a public-private entity made up of 125 people (intellectuals, investors, artists, etc.) and an Executive Committee of said council made up of three members of the federal cabinet, was installed in the National Palace "Palacio Nacional (Mexico)"), in an event headed by President Vicente Fox and the Head of Government Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Conaculta, Secretariat of Tourism "Secretaría de Turismo (Mexico)") and the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit), three from the local cabinet (Urban Development, Tourism and Economic Development) and four representatives of civil society: a journalist (Jacobo Zabludovsky), a historian (Guillermo Tovar de Teresa), the archdiocese of Mexico through Archbishop Norberto Rivera Carrera and the richest businessman in the country: Carlos Slim. This organization, with the collaboration of specialists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National Polytechnic Institute, carried out a detailed diagnosis of the areas to intervene and the strategies to do so.[44].
On February 28, 2002, at a meeting of the council's executive committee, the trust was nationalized, making it public, although maintaining contributions from the private initiative. The so-called recovery of the historic center began with the remodeling of the streets: Madero "Calle Francisco I. Madero (Mexico City)"), Bolívar, Isabel la Católica, Cinco de Mayo "Avenida Cinco de Mayo (Mexico City)"), Tacuba, Donceles, Cinco de Febrero and Venustiano Carranza, all of them located to the west of the Central Plaza; In this stage of street modifications, the intervention that could be considered to have been of greatest magnitude is the transformation of Madero Street into a commercial-pedestrian corridor.[42][45].
With the nationalized trust and expanded by the contribution of private initiative, 34 blocks of the downtown commercial area were intervened; The public space was renovated, pavements, sidewalks and street furniture were replaced, facades were renovated, the infrastructure was modernized and street vendors were once again relocated to the remodeled areas. The Alameda project was created and street vendors were regulated: some of them were relocated to three shopping plazas and the majority were simply displaced from the "rescued" area. At that time the Turibus was introduced. The channeling of public resources to improve the facades of private properties was carried out through the Agreement for the Repair of Facades, which resulted in 548 rehabilitations between 2002 and 2006. In addition, Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York and promoter of zero tolerance, was invited as a security advisor, and based on his recommendations, new police forces and other public security measures were introduced. Thus, in 2004 the Civic Culture Law was passed, which gave the local government powers to remove informal activities and criminal suspects from the streets.
During the government of Marcelo Ebrard, the Authority of the Historic Center was established as the governing body of the area to generate policies, projects and plans, not only for rehabilitation and conservation, but also for organization for the administration of resources and services that preserve the remodeling already done, coordinating the three levels of government (that of the then delegations, that of the city and that of the federal government). From it arose the Reforma-Zócalo Corridor project, a comprehensive plan to enhance the tourist use of the area, carrying out remodeling work on public roads, buildings and monuments; conditioning of public service infrastructures such as markets, shopping plazas and public parks; About fifteen thousand street vendors were relocated to 48 shopping plazas, to free two hundred blocks of the historic center from informal commerce, carried out on October 12, 2007. In that six-year period, 26.5 km of streets and 137,000 square meters of parks and squares were rehabilitated in approximately twenty public spaces, including the remodeling of Alameda Central. Bicycle taxis and Metrobús line 4 (with a bidirectional route of 27.3 kilometers in thirty stops and four terminals) were introduced, which links the historic center with the international airport. Furthermore, for the first time, intervention work was carried out in the popular areas of the center.[41][42][43][46].
In the period 2012-2018, the most significant interventions were the renovation of the Zócalo plate and the Seminario and Tlaxcoaque squares; street renovation: Barrio Chino, Nuevo Barrio Centro Alameda, 20 de Noviembre, Republic of Peru, Republic of Brazil, Republic of Cuba, Jesús María, Isabel la Católica, Santa Veracruz, 2 de Abril, Calle San Juan de Dios and Republic of Bolivia. 135 hybrid bicycle taxis, four bicycle lanes, thirty stations of the Ecobici public bicycle rental system "Ecobici (Mexico City)") and the electric taxi system with twenty units were introduced. The underground electrical energy transmission network in perimeter "A" was inaugurated in 2013.[41][42][43].