One of the key issues at metropolitan level is the provision of public services and this paper highlights the importance of understanding the governance of public services in the context of increasing urbanization and decentralization. This paper provides a comparative analysis on metropolitan governance in Latin America by analysing specific case studies. The objective is to identify how the governance setting in metropolitan areas shapes the process anthe results of providing public services to wider population. We examine metropolitan governance by employing a 3x3x3 model as a framework for addressing key issues about urban services delivery. Bogota, Lima and Mexico City are the metropolitan areas selected. Secondly, we focus on three sectors: transport, solid waste collection and water. Finally, the analysis focuses in three aspects of governance: coordination, financial sustainability and coverage and quality. The data collection process involved field research in Bogota, Lima and Mexico City.

En este texto se revisa la evolución reciente de las zonas metropolitanas en México. Se presentan elementos de discusión teórica y conceptual acerca de la visión económica del fenómeno metropolitano y se describe la conformación y estructuración del sistema metropolitano en México. A partir de datos de los Censos económicos (1998, 2003 y 2008) y de los Censos de población y vivienda (1990, 2000 y 2010) se examina una serie de indicadores que dan cuenta de distintas dimensiones de las economías metropolitanas, de su población así como del sistema metropolitano en su conjunto. Por un lado se encuentra un declive en varios aspectos del sistema de metrópolis; por otro, un reacomodo progresivo en el interior del sistema, donde la heterogeneidad urbana persiste. Los resultados, sin embargo, dependen de cada una de las variables consideradas. AbstractThis paper reviews the latest developments of metropolitan areas in Mexico. Elements of theoretical and conceptual discussion on the economic vision of the metropolitan phenomenon are presented and the composition and structure of the subway system in Mexico described. Data from the economic censuses (1998, 2003 and 2008) and the population and housing censuses (1990, 2000 and 2010) are used to examine a series of indicators that reflect the various dimensions of metropolitan economies, their population and the metropolitan system as a whole. On the one hand, there has been a decline in various aspects of the metropolitan system; on the other, there has been a progressive adjustment within the system, in which urban heterogeneity persists. The results, however, depend on each of the variables considered.

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Mexico's regional disparities and national economic performance in the 1940-2013 period is measured to test the question of whether regional imbalances expand or contract with the national economy's growth or decline, and also the question of disparities increasing or decreasing depending on the country's stage of development. Given the recurring waves of recession and stagnation in Mexico in recent decades, determining the cyclicality of disparities is of particular interest for regional policy-making. In the long run, regional inequalities exhibit a U-shape. Results also indicate that while the decrease in disparities during the most severe economic downturns during the liberalized period is striking, there is no strong statistical support for the pro-cyclical evolution of regional inequalities.

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