Get the latest tech news
What Cancún’s Tourists Don’t See Is a Sprawling Concrete Jungle
The rapid expansion of Cancún since the 1970s has created a vastly unequal city, with overpopulated neighborhoods deprived of public space propping up the city's lavish tourist districts.
According to recent research by Christine McCoy, an academic at the University of the Caribbean, most people in Cancún live without the minimum green areas or public spaces needed for proper recreation, leisure, rest, or socializing. For the wealthy, jungle is being removed to build luxury complexes adorned with grass; in the south of the city, new developments come complete with gardens, and residents enjoy 9.3 square meters of green space per person, very close to what the World Health Organization marks as optimal. “Believe it or not it used to be worse; before there were much more assaults or bodies left lying around, but since it’s been lit up, nothing like that has happened here,” says city resident Miguel Ávila, referring to efforts made by Mexico’s Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development to try to fix Cancún’s public space problem.
Or read this on Wired
