ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 228

Introduction
Background
The accelerated growth of the population in Mexico during the 1960s brought consequently a
large housing deficit, particularly in the major metropolitan areas. According to Boils (2006), in
order to cover the housing deficit in the country, it is necessary to build an average of 1 million
houses per year for period of 10 years. A major Real Estate Investment business states that an average of 850,000 new homes per year are required until 2020 when the rate of household formation will start to decrease (Gomes, 2004). The National Population Council (CONAPO) estimated
that in 2010 there would be nearly 30 million homes in Mexico and by 2030 a total of 45.6 million
households (CONAPO, 2012) which involves an average growth of 780,000 new homes per year.
These figures clearly show the countries’ big housing demand. As a result, during the last decade
different federal agencies, international aid associations, as well as private and public organisations have been taking some actions to promote the housing sector. In 2007 the State set a goal
to provide 1,000,000 new homes per year between 2007 and 2012 (Federal, 2007).
The strong need for great quantities of low income housing, together with an advanced construction sector headed by big consortiums, have led to innovative construction solutions based
on a mass industrialised housing production (MIHP), which allow the rapid delivery of significant
volumes.
Mass Industrialised Housing Developments in Mexico
Today because of different federal actions taken towards housing development, Mexico is one
of the hotbeds of mass industrialised housing production (MIHP) worldwide. Two of the largest mega housing developments of Latin America are located in the metropolitan zone of Valle
de Mexico, in the municipality of Ixtapaluca; “Los Heroes” with 20 thousand dwellings, and “San
Buenaventura” with 23 thousand homes (Miranda, 2012). Figure 1 illustrates the urbanisation model and the monotony of developments where the same housing design has been constructed
repeatedly.

Figure 1: Aerial views from the 23 thousand homes development “San Buenaventura” located in Ixtapaluca, Mexico state - (a) Photography by Artist Livia Corona, (b) Google Maps (2015) (c and d) Oscar Ruiz

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy