Quebec city might have something to say about that.

Mexico is geographically North America, but not culturally.

Also, please do not come to Canada. Stay at home and fix your own country. It will never get better otherwise. Canada can barely cope with the huge numbers of foreigners already living here, it doesn’t need any more.

Mexico is a rich country with a huge social underclass. A few families control 90% of the wealth.

About 1/4 of the population of Mexico now lives in the US.

Maybe the 22nd century will bring changes.

I am from and live in Mexico City, however I’ve been living in different places the last 6 years (West Palm Beach, Fl., Oxnard, CA., Pittsburgh, PA., and Vancouver, BC.) And well, If there were a city with the mix of the 3 NAFTA Countries (West Palm Beach, Vancouver and Mexico City) that will be the Best place on earth to live at.
I will keep the warmth, culture (history) and family oriented people from Mexico.
The Quality of Life from any Canadian city
The capacity and dynamism from the USA: to transform something where there’s nothing into something very profitable

Taking about History, Culture, Mexico City is by far the most important City in North America (yes, because geographically Mexico belongs to North America as well as to Central America)

Taking about environment, definitely we are far away from any City in North America, this is because it’s Geographic Location, surrounded by mountains so the air cannot flow free like the other cities, (Vancouver, Oxnard, West Palm Beach, LA and New York), that’s what makes us a very polluted city, as aforementioned by Gonzalo. And you have to consider that here lives 1/5 of all Mexico population.

In politics, well, we are trying to reverse many years of corruption, that makes the police (and politicians) the people that mexicans can’t trust, that’s a huge difference with the police in USA, for example.

Economics: well, we may not have the wealthy of USA or Canada, but we are not too bad, talking about minimum salary in mexico is roughly USD$4.00 a day for 8 hours (yes, four US dollars per eight hours), anyways, working people in Mexico and their family usually gets free MedicCare, and besides the prices of brand-new cars (toyota corolla, for example) are basically the same, mexicans still can afford it. Incredible!

Safety of city: well here is one huge issue in Mexico City. robbery, kidnapping are the big concerns of people with certain economic level. and well, this could be part of the low salaries, lack of jobs, etc. as well as corruption by police and politicians. Drug cartels are not an issue in this city, however is a big problem in the cities that are border with USA, because there is the number 1 market in the world, so this is where family values gets it’s importance while educating kids.

Conclusion: I will rise my kids in Mexico City until High School (when all the family values are formed). after that, would consider moving to Vancouver or West Palm Beach, but doesn’t mean that I’ll never come back… and who knows, maybe in a few years from now, Mexico could be the Capital of the 21st Century

As a Mexican (from Mexico city) living elsewhere in the world I can say that as much as I miss my home, I am making every effort not to have to return and settle there. The city has many problems but the air-noise-and visual (ads, rubbish everywhere) pollution kills as an option it for me.

I laugh at the traffic problems because I ride my bicycle everywhere I need to go (I think I actually go at a higher average speed than cars)… but at the same time I realize I’m gambling with my life because the streets have no consideration whatsoever for bicycle riders, people tend to drive aggressively and as I arrive somewhere I start coughing and my eyes are sore.

I’ve never been to New York yet so I cannot comment on the comparison point but I think that in order for Mexico to put it’s act together there has to be a better respect towards the law and government from the people and the government needs to inspire such respect (ie. no corruption, politicos focused on their actual jobs instead of their careers, improvement of bureaucracy, etc.), and I think we’re still kind of far away from that.

A rather bold statement from Tyler Cowen. Mexico City is indeed a creative city when it comes to the Hispanic world. Certainly the most creative and progressive city in Mexico. How creative on an international level? Not much I would think based on the number of cited scientists and patents, to use your Creative Cities criteria (love the book by the way). But to go so far as to say it will be the New York of the 21st century is much wishful thinking if not delusion. It is true as Wendy comments that in Mexico City you can’t get bored. But , in my opinion – and given many facts – it’s quite a challenging city to live in if you are accustomed to developed countries’ urban centres. I was born in Mexico City. After high school I went to the US to study for almost six years. After school I went back and worked there for a few years, but I found that my quality of life was not great. In 1989 I had the opportunity to move to Toronto and I took it.
You should never say never, but I will say it, I will never move back to Mexico City. One thing is to focus on the great artistic, cultural and culinary life in that city, another is to look at the enormous challenges that residents face on a daily basis: insufficient services (water is a big problem there), security (crime rates are some of the highest in the world), pollution (by North American standards a health hazard), traffic (try driving from the historic downtown to the Pedregal neighbourhood on any work day and you’ll know what I mean), poverty (too much urban poverty and not enough resources to tackle it), and on and on. I suppose Mexico City residents will be flattered by the comparison with Manhattan, but given a chance many of them would rather live in the Big Apple.
Saludos,
Jaime Horwitz

Whether Mexico City will be a world capital in the 21st century I’m not sure, this was forecast in the late 19th century and again in the 1930s only not to materialize fully. On the other hand, it was for a long time one of the grand cities in the Americas starting in Aztec times and really continuing through much of the colonial Spanish era.