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Old Posted Jan 9, 2008, 3:44 AM
Crawford Crawford is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NYC/Polanco, DF
Posts: 30,551
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaron38 View Post
This looks like an outlying area. How close is this to the central business district?
This is all far from downtown, in a wealthy suburb on the western fringes of Guadalajara.

Basically all of Guadalajara's wealth and highrises are west of downtown, with 60's and 70's-era highrises in the neighborhoods just west of downtown (sorta urban inner suburbs in an area called Minerva) and this very new impressive cluster of highrises on the furthest western urban fringe. In fact, there is no development further to the west, because there is an almost Grand Canyon-like trench separating the sprawl from the countryside.

I was shocked when I first saw this area. You drive down a highway past Burger Kings and 7-11s and suddenly these sliver towers rise out of nowhere like a mirage. In addition to the highrises, they are building a very high-end shopping center and some cool modernist lowrise apartments. I have heard the claim that Guadalajara's per capita income is second highest in Latin America (I think Monterrey is first), so, if true, we are talking a city with a higher per capita income than Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Santiago, or Mexico City.

The problem with this area is that there's no context. It's just highrises in the middle of nowhere, kinda like a mini-Dubai. There's some upscale country clubs, a park, a zoo, and some wealthy suburban neighborhoods and highways that look like Southern California, but there's no urban context.

If you know Mexico City, this neighborhood is the equivalent of Santa Fe, a bigger version on the western edge of the capital. Like Santa Fe, the advantage of this edge city is that it has the cleanest air in the city. Neighborhoods in the East and South of Guadalajara have bad winter smog, and Mexico City is much worse.

When I visit Guadalajara for work, I stay next to the Plaza del Sol, which is an older shopping center and "Edge City" closer to downtown. It's semi-walkable and has some urban context.

Downtown Guadalajara is quite historic and beautiful (and is IMO much more interesting), but it has little wealth and no highrises.