Gutierrez, Fernando; (2025) The death and life of public space? The Alameda Central and the Historic Centre of Mexico City. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This research engages with long-standing debates around public space and urban regeneration in heritage areas. The urban studies literature has criticised regeneration policies for fostering social surveillance, excluding some populations and eroding the social memory and political functions of renewed public spaces. Policies are often described as leading to the ‘sanitisation’, ‘homogenisation’ and ‘de-politicisation’ of public space. The thesis investigates the implications of regeneration and heritage conservation for historic public spaces in the Historic Centre of Mexico City, recognised as a national heritage space in 1980 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It examines the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Historic Centre (implemented in 2011, 2017 and 2023) focusing on the 2012 renewal of the Alameda Central, one of the oldest public parks in the continental Americas. Following a qualitative approach, including ethnographic and longitudinal observation of the Alameda, examination of maps, videos and photographs, informal and semi-structured interviews and urban policy and social media analysis, the thesis explores whether the regeneration of the historic centre has led to gentrification and displacement, and if so, how various populations have responded to these processes. The research identifies a diverse range of groups using the Alameda today: roller skaters and skateboarders, street vendors, homeless people, beggars, street performers, a community of elderly gay men and male sex workers, among others. Many of these groups have historically faced displacement or conflict with others over the use of public space. Although the urban policies examined in this thesis have enhanced social surveillance and brought about stricter policing, public spaces such as the Alameda remain pivotal places for political expression. The study underscores ongoing tensions between city authorities and activists who have utilised historic public spaces such as the Alameda to express their dissatisfaction. The thesis demonstrates that the Alameda remains a site for social memory, where different populations remember the physical and social transformations produced by regeneration in contradictory ways.

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