Jose Fernandez – Building Dreams In The Slums Of Mexico – AlJazeera

AlJazeera. September 2014. Millions of people from Mexico’s countryside come to the capital to build settlements and slums, adding to the ongoing expansion of one of the world’s biggest cities. In Mexico, the poor have largely settled in shantytowns on the edge of Mexico City. Despite the danger, the hardship, the lack of hygiene, many families are using it as a chance to build a better life.

As part of our ongoing My Home series, Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney reports from Mexico City.

From the top of the hill in Ixtapaluca, Mexico City looks attractive: the metropolis of 22 million seats on a valley surrounded by two beautiful volcanoes and mountains. The city still has a shrinking lake, Xochimilco, a legacy from pre Hispanic times, one of the few remaining natural reserves.
New human settlements keep devouring nature by the day, mostly on the hills, as the flat surfaces are mostly occupied or unaffordable.
To kids here airplanes are an attraction, as they fly over one every minute in the afternoons; so is to look at the city’s historic center to identify some of its many landmarks, typically monuments, office towers and Chapultepec Park, the largest green spot inside the concrete jungle.
But going to see the city’s zoo at Chapultepec is a luxury families living here can rarely afford.

Read & see more: http://www.aljazeera.com/slums-mexico

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