What makes urban myths so compelling? How do they endure for decades, even when they are only loosely connected to reality? The answer seems simple: they tell powerful stories. Often, they tell them better than real life itself, which is usually messier, contradictory, and violent. Informal Metropolis seeks to unpack one of the most enduring myths of Mexico City: the emergence and consolidation of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl (Neza), long notorious as “the largest shantytown in Latin America.” The book offers a detailed account that challenges this narrative. The lack of urban services in Neza was not the result of illegal land invasions by defiant squatters, but of systematic corruption and embezzlement by government officials and private developers – negotiated and many times provided, in turn, by the residents themselves.
Streule, Monika (2025) Review of Informal Metropolis: Life on the Edge of Mexico City, 1940–1976, by David Yee. The Latin Americanist 69:4: 437-439. DOI: 10.1353/tla.2025.a977286
