Comparing Mexico City, Buenos Aires And New York’S Infrastructures

Introduction

Mexico City (also known as La Ciudad de México) and Buenos Aires are the capitals of Mexico and Argentina respectively. They are megacities that house over 11 million people combined and have developed sophisticated infrastructure for its people. The finances for the urban infrastructure are mostly paid for by the government, either federal or state. The following sections will compare Mexico City and Buenos Aires in terms of their roads, public transport, water systems, telecommunication systems along with other legacy structures that are found in the cities. Lastly, New York’s infrastructure will also be discussed. For context, United States is ranked #9 for Infrastructure in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, whereas Mexico is ranked #62 and Argentina #81.

Roads

Mexico City is highly connected with other peripheral cities by expressways, although their development has been challenging in view of the mountainous landscape through the country. That said, navigating in the city is still difficult as it was termed the most-congested city in the world by the traffic data analytics firm TomTom. The average speed of travel is estimated to be 17 kilometres per hour. The situation has been attributed to urban sprawl and rising car ownership. The government is now introducing vehicle coordination program where only cars with certain car plates could travel at designated times so as to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion.

In contrast, Buenos Aires has a much more developed transport system. The city is built upon a rectangular grid which gives rise to the square blocks named Manzanas and has planned for pedestrian zones. The Avenida 9 de Julio is one of the largest roads in the world featuring 22 lanes.

Public Transport

The poor road infrastructure in Mexico City has given rise to mini vans that picks up passengers at very low fees around the city and a heavily subsidized subway system that has one of the lowest fares around the world. As for Buenos Aires, the commuter network system is also developed, with more than 1. 3 million daily commuters. The services are offered for 21 hours in a day, markedly more than that of many developed cities. The Buenos Aires commuter rail network also connects the city with long-distance rail services to Rosario and Córdoba, among other metropolitan area. It is also connected to one of the longest railway networks in the world, given that the country is shaped thin and long and stretches across South America. To further promote a green city, the city government has launched a bicycle sharing program in December 2010 with bicycles free for hire upon registration. This is also an improvement from London’s Boris Bike (now the Santander Bike) which still charges riders for usage

Airport

In terms of airports, both cities house international airports that are the largest within the countries. In Buenos Aires, the most renowned airport would be the Ministro Pistarini International Airport, commonly known as Ezeiza Airport and is located in the suburb of Ezeiza approximately 22 km south of the city. The Mexico City International Airport sees an annual traffic of 26 million passengers and is publicly owned, unlikely most of the other major airports in the country. The proposal of a new airport may incorporate the Hyperloop technology to quickly transport passengers from terminals to terminals.

Water system

When it comes to the water system, Buenos Aires also performs better than Mexico City, whose federal government in charge of water resource regulation faces various challenges. These include groundwater exploitation, land subsidence and major flooding. Paradoxically, the city receives huge rainfall every year but it has struggled to provide clean water. Instead, land erosion and overflooding have been perennial issues. Many citizens in Mexico City rely on water trucks than local infrastructure for clean water. Buenos Aires gets its water from the immense Rio de la Plata which is a high-quality water source.

Housing

Despite the various highlights, the disparaging economic inequality of Argentina has unintentionally created Villas miserias in many cities, including Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba and Mendoz. These are precarious houses built illegally to house the poorer residents and lack many basic utilities provision, although local communities have developed various workaround.

Comparing New York with the two cities

Roads

New York is a high developed city and urban planning was first conceived in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, where the grid system is drawn up by John Randel, Jr. , with other commissioners. It has given the city its unique look, such as the avenues that span the city with little interruptions (with Central Park and Madison Square Park being the rare exceptions) but the city is also marred with various infrastructure issues. The two main concentrations of high-rise buildings can be found in Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan. Number of New York inhabitants keeps increasing and it now takes over 33 minutes for average commuters to navigate New York's roads. One-third of New York’s major highways are considered to be in poor or fair condition, which is high even compared to States average.

Public transport

New York City-area drivers which represents half the state’s population, each waste 53 hours per year just sitting in traffic. Many opt for the New York subway, which is one of the world's oldest public transit systems and one of the world's most used metro systems. It also has a massive count of 472 stations overall and services over 236 miles (380 km) of routes.

Airport

Major airports in New York are JFK and Westchester airport, both of which have been criticized to be too huge and inconvenient for passengers to navigate around. Accessibility remains an issue for many disabled and elderly.

Bridges

Rundown bridges across the States have been highlighted as a sign of inadequate public finance, and New York also suffers from it. More than 50% of New York’s bridges are 75 years old, and over 400 of New York’s bridges are 100 years old. Only about 10% of New York’s structurally deficient bridges have been improved with public funding

Water system

The water system is a regulated market but with many independent providers delivering services to the 20 million citizens. That said, nearly 95% of New York’s population receives water from the state’s public water supply systems. As the water systems have grown complex beyond its initial design, many pipelines are in grave needs of replacement. It is estimated that almost half the city’s pipes are placed prior to the 2nd world war and would take 100 years for them to be entirely replaced.

Central heating system

Central heating in New York is delivered via steam produced from steam generating stations scattered the city. Pipelines carry it under the streets of Manhattan to heat and cool high-rise buildings and businesses. Consolidated Edison, which supplies steam to the city is also the largest commercial steam system in the worlds.

Conclusion

While the 3 cities all face congestion issues, New York and Buenos Aires are doing better in providing affordable alternative via their subway systems. Water system is a huge issue in Mexico City whereas Buenos Aires actually performs better than its WEF Global Competitive Index result would suggest. That said, urban planning is a complex issue that takes on many dimensions and as such we should always be studying the details to understand the cities better.