Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-97). / In September 2017, two severe earthquakes hit Mexico, killing hundreds of people and destroying thousand of structures, including houses, schools, churches, and other buildings. As a consequence, 18,851 settlements were declared disaster areas (DOF. 2017); 96% of those settlements are rancherías -- rural settlements and smallest geo-political unit in Mexico (INEGI. 2010). Because they tend to be very poor, the Mexican federal government intervened to assist affected families by utilizing national savings to provide conditional cash transfers for self-building, with the aim of facilitating housing reconstruction. However, this federal program, like other development programs used by the Mexican government, uses a top-down approach that has been criticized as a one-size-fits-all-solution that does not address the overwhelming needs of those living in earthquake-affected rancherías. This thesis studies the Mexican post-earthquake house reconstruction program at national, state, ranchería and household levels, with the objective of (1) examining the post-earthquake housing development program implemented by the Mexican government, (2) analyzing how national reconstruction plans can be made more efficient at local level, and (3) making recommendations to increase program efficiency through the proposal of a new policy initiative. In order to understand the reconstruction process, I first studied the protocols deployed at national and state levels. I then visited families in the midst of their reconstruction process in three rancherías -- La Nopalera in Yautepec, Morelos; Acatzingo de la Piedra in Tenancingo, Estado de Mexico; and San Juan Tlacotompa in Ecatzingo, Estado de México. This fieldwork permitted discovering that reconstruction is being led by external agents that fail to understand rural needs, consequently imposing urban housing solutions on a rural setting, thereby creating financial, structural and health risks. At the same time, capacity building training is concentrated on these external, urban-oriented agents, leaving local communities with minimal involvement or training in reconstruction efforts. Based on these findings, this thesis provides recommendations on how to address the misdirection of reconstruction efforts and proposes the creation of a university network for Rural Risk Reduction, so as to decentralise the technical capacity, currently concentrated in Mexican cities, while integrating local knowledge regarding rural-specific needs. / by Akemi Sato Matsumoto Miranda. / M.C.P.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/118203 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Sato Matsumoto Miranda, Akemi |
| Contributors | Lorena Bello Gómez., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 120 pages, application/pdf |
| Coverage | n-mx--- |
| Rights | MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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