The Reorientation of Migration Flows in the City-Region. The Case of Mexico City in the Central Region

Abstract

The city-region is identified as a new and dominant form of urbanization, whichÍ€”in most casesÍ€”consists of a large city with other smaller surrounding urban centers. In the analysis of city-regions there has been a bias towards the economic performance of the larger city, resulting in a scarce number of studies regarding the population redistribution and the reorientation of migration flows for the city-region as a whole. Based on census data, this study analyzes the reorientation of migration flows at the interior of the Central Region of Mexico, for the period 2000-2015, emphasizing the role of Mexico City as the dominant center. Particular attention is given to net migration balances between metropolitan areas, middle-sized cities, small cities, and rural areas. The analysis demonstrates that whereas rural-urban migration has lost relevance, metropolitan-to-metropolitan and urban-to-metropolitan migration flows are now the most important.