Clara Brugada, Mayor of Mexico City
Ten days after Clara Brugada was elected as the mayor of Mexico City she spoke at the Bloomberg philanthropies Mayors Challenge which took place in Mexico City in 2024. She shared her vision and the reality of making that vision happen.
She was clear about building a new way of looking at urban development with a woman's perspective.
We will look crime in the face by looking at situations that lead to violence. We will build peace and equality and mobility.
She said,"We are creating a large plan with public policies that are essential to the task of creating a public care system in Mexico City." She described this planning as a new way of looking at a city for urban designers to take into account.
She emphasized peace, security, equity, mobility in infrastructural terms and how that can meet human needs.
"What is the meaning of care", she asked? "It is not just a private task but an infrastructure... and", she assured the mayors, "we are going to create a powerful infrastructure."
Examples she gave were 200 centers for child care and development, developmental, centers for the handicapped and houses for elderly. The perspective she offered was that the hours people spend and how they spend them are a public need. "Having a place to do laundry, that is a public need... That is the public care system."
Mexico City is facing large challenges including water shortages, droughts, crime and poverty. She spoke of those things and what some of the strategies were to solve them.
She emphasized, "We must have a vision of the future."
The mayor said, "We want shared prosperity." The best way to solve social problems is through job creation so we can have enough liberty for both growth and also for a city of welfare that is good for all.
She listed some priority topics which included better environmental services: better air, water and mobility.
She said that 78% of the Mexico City population use public transportation which means a large part of the city's resources have to go for transportation through investments in electric mobility while also continuing with the city's current cablebuses "so people can enjoy being with their families instead of being on public transportation all of the time." She also shared plans to build a large infrastructure for "non-motor" mobility such as cycling and walking.
In reference to climate change the mayor noted that we will have to be ready to address the problem of water, and modify the model. She said that the loss of 13 tons of water every day in Mexico City is a result of waste. From a metropolitan perspective water must speak to future sustainability. It will take work to reach a water balance."
She emphasized, "water is a human right and it defends nature...