Informal housing markets and urban structure in Tijuana

This investigation studies informal housing markets and urban structure in the city of Tijuana. It endeavors to answer two main questions: What is the spatial distribution of informal housing in Tijuana? And what is the role of the housing cost in informal housing markets in Tijuana? The research investigates who lives in informal housing in Tijuana and how access to housing markets is affected by individual socio-economic characteristics and institutional factors. The project contests the idea that informal sub-urbanization can be explained by the lack of economic means of mostly new immigrants to urban enclaves.;The term informal housing refers to settlements in urban areas that are not planned or regulated by state laws. By investigating the reasoning behind housing location in these areas, this research will examine how emerging spatial paradigms affect local regulations of housing markets and the consequences for urban planners. This research also highlights the social context of urban families in informal areas of Tijuana, drawing attention to the positive aspects of informality and how autonomous housing can be a process of social cohesion.;The study takes place in the most active border in the World. The Border Region of the United States and Mexico is one of the most complex regions in the contemporary process of Globalization, comprising the three major cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana, in two countries with very different stages of development. There is no other situation like this one in the world.;The data gathered in the informal areas of Tijuana are used to evaluate what influences the process by which households in poverty access the housing market and how those variables are similar to what we already know from studies of other informal housing markets in Latin American cities and in contrast to processes of housing access in formal housing markets. Through a multidimensional analysis, using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study identifies and explains the role of informality in Tijuana's urban structure and the internal functioning of the informal housing markets.