Last August 7th, 2023, the Decree reforming article 16 of Mexico City’s Political Constitution, in matters of territorial planning (the “Reform”), was published at the Mexico City Official Gazette, becoming effective the next day.
The Reform responds to the imminent need to promote: (i) the responsible regularization of land; and (ii) a healthy environment, since in recent years there has been a massive increase in the construction of buildings that do not comply with the corresponding authorizations, thus affecting different regions considered as conservation land.
Prior to the Reform, article 16 classified Mexico City’s zoning in three classes: (i) urban land; (ii) conservation land; and (iii) rural land; however, with the Reform, “rural land use” was eliminated, maintaining only the first two.
Rural land used to allow the development of primary economic activities, such as agriculture, livestock and aquaculture, as well as tourism and housing, therefore, when this class of zoning was overexploited, urban densification spread towards the conservation land, which put at risk the environmental services that the conservation land provides to the people of Mexico City.
Likewise, it is important to note that the use of rural land was incompatible with the legal regulations applicable in Mexico City and the General Law of Human Settlements, Land Planning and Urban Development.
In this regard, the purpose of the Reform is to guarantee and maintain the social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits that the conservation land provides to Mexico City, by protecting the environmental structure and function of forests, areas of environmental value, natural protected areas, aquifer recharge, microclimate regulation, biodiversity reservoir, water and soil retention, as well as agricultural and rural production, among others.
Accordingly, the objectives of the Reform are:
- Suppress rural land zoning;
- Reclassify those lands that were classified as rural land to conservation land;
- Guarantee the allocation of budget resources to conservation land;
- Promote the sustainability of conservation land;
- Guarantee effective and progressive access to the rights to a healthy environment, safe public space, adequate food, culture, education and health, among others;
- Avoid the irregular occupation of land;
- Promote compensation or payments for environmental services.
- Encourage the preservation of conservation land; and
- Avoid the authorization of changes from conservation land to urban land.
It is important to mention that all references to rural land in other Mexico City regulations should be understood as conservation land.
