Urbanisierung und Finanzsektor in Entwicklungsländern: Marketisierung, Institutionalisierung und Internationalisierung von Mikrokrediten im informellen Selbstbau in Mexiko

The project explores changes in the relation between financial sector and urbanization in the context of Mexico as a developing country. It examines processes of marketization, institutionalization and internationalization of housing microfinance in Mexico. These processes currently result in expanded access to non-mortgage microloans for low-income households for purposes of renovation and remodeling of self-built homes. We ask how these processes evolve and what the potential effects are on self-organized building practices of low-income households. This results in a double focus on the institutions and mechanisms which link financial markets and the informal housing sector as well as on the everyday practices in which financial services are obtained and consumed by low-income households. The project will conduct a series of qualitative case studies of low-income communities located in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area and the coastal zone of the State of Quintana Roo. Against the background of international debates about financialization which a strong focus on US, UK and European cases, the project promises insights in two important ways: First, it potentially allows to combine and contrast theoretical considerations with empirical data from a geographical, economic and cultural context that has until now been largely neglected in the international literature on financialization and the production of urban built environment. Second, it potentially contributes to debates inspired by post-colonial approaches to urban and planning theory about whether and how concepts derived from European and US experiences can serve in analyzing Latin America.