As a governmental function, development for progress and welfare is a highly complex process that involves updating various attributes (such as a paradigm, critical or alternative, depending on of the way in which they are articulated regarding social aspects, environmental, and economic growth, as well as the institutional capacity of public and private actors). Regarding this, we are interested in the municipal institutional capacity (MIC) as a skill to carry out the functions and appropriate tasks that municipalities must fulfill in an effective, efficient, and sustainable way, and it varies considerably, depending on each local context. In order to analyze the relevance of the current official regionalization as a state government strategy for the centralized construction of MIC, an exploratory approach to its spatial behavior in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, was carried out. Given the nature of the study, a purely mixed approach, sequential exploratory design, subnational analysis methodology, and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) were employed. The variable to be analyzed is the 2016 Municipal Functional Capacities Index (Índice de Capacidades Funcionales Municipales (ICFM)), with the Geostatistics Framework cartographic base of the 2020 Population and Housing Census. The analysis units are 212 municipalities in the 2014–2017 government period. As a result, it was confirmed that the current regionalization was irrelevant, owing to the absence of global spatial autocorrelation, and it was concluded that targeted interventions are necessary according to regional modeling techniques, based on scientific evidence.

Lead (Pb) as a pollutant is not biodegradable, tends to accumulate in different organisms, and can affect, for example, the performance of maize crops. However, only a few studies have reported on the effect of lead (Pb) and the relationship with the potential of hydrogen (pH) of water on crop performance. Thus, this study aimed at determining the influence of Pb and its relationship with the pH of water on the growth of Creole maize (Zea mays L.). In order to achieve this, a double bottom vessel system, isolated from the soil, was used to expose the plants to an aqueous Pb solution based on the equivalence of 1.5985 g of lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2) per g of Pb. An experimental design of the two-factor response surface methodology (RSM) was applied. The Creole maize plants were exposed to four different concentrations of Pb in water [0 g L −1 (P1: control); 0.33 g L −1 (P2); 0.66 g L −1 (P3); 1 g L −1 (P4)], as well as to three different pH levels (5.5 (pH1); 6.5 (pH2); 7.5 (pH3)) in clay soil typical of the region. Subsequently, the relationship of these variables with maize growth was determined. The results showed a decrease in leaf growth, height, stem circumference, and root. However, it was also determined that these negative effects can be mitigated by controlling the pH of water in 7.5. Failure to control the combination of these two factors in the cultivation process generally results in an impact on the growth of the maize seedling. In addition, leaf discoloration was also observed in the leaves of maize plants from the concentration of 0.33 g L −1 (P2), which suggests a nutritional anomaly that is toxic to the plant.