De la flânerie al tránsito peatonal: la negación del derecho a la ciudad

Abstract

Mexico City's urban development, oriented to car infrastructure, has contributed to the degradation of public spaces and neighborhood segregation, making walking difficult and limiting people's access to the city's resources. In this context, pedestrians have developed a particular behavior to navigate public spaces and bypass the norm, which has led them to be qualified as "irresponsible". This behavior adopted by pedestrians tells us about the spatial configuration of the city, the quality of public spaces and the nature of both urban planning and road safety policies. The pedestrian is the product of an environment that denies the existence of the flâneur and requires constant adaptations from those on foot. In this paper, we seek to establish a dialogue between the image of the flâneur and the pedestrian's practices in Mexico City, underlining the gap between the ideal definition of the former and the daily reality of the latter. Whereas the flâneur embodies a city that enables social and sensorial relationships, the pedestrian is an expression of the denial of the right to the city.

Keywords

• accessibility
• urban mobility
• pedestrian
• Mexico City
• flâneur
• the right to the city