Guadalajara Metropolitan Region: The role of metropolitan cities in the integration of urban and rural territories and their inhabitants. The relevance of the Guadalajara pilot case study

The city of Guadalajara has a strategic geographical position for relations between the two oceans. It is also in a position of the junction between the axis that connects the city to Mexico City and the axis that connects Guadalajara with the port of Manzanillo.  Along the years, the projects proposed during the Taller of Guadalajara seek to increase the capacity of metropolitan government authorities for developing policies, plans and projects that will foster sustainable economic, social and environmental urban development for improving the lives of both, local communities and nowadays for enhancing the integration of new migrants in urban metropolitan areas.  By using a holistic approach considering urban and territorial planning, governance and municipal finance, sustainable and inclusive solutions at different planning scales must be developed to enhance economic and social development and integration. The UDG project includes capacity building of HEIs’ professors, local authorities and relevant stakeholders for social cohesion by participatory processes. It also includes a focus on collection, analysis and representation of geographical data with open source tools, intending to produce maps to guide decision-making across the cities’ administrative boundaries. As a result, the project strengthens the integration of Guadalajara Municipality and the middle and the small cities of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Region through more cohesive urban planning approaches, improved sustainable metropolitan project on the linkage urban-rural, tourism development, urban governance and enhanced livelihoods opportunities, by proposing specific metropolitan strategies