Financialization and local governance: the case of FIBRAS and urban planning in Mexico

Abstract

One of the main stock exchange instruments generated during the financialization process are Real Estate Investment Trusts, which have allowed the reproduction of large real estate projects. Taking FIBRA Danhos in Mexico City as a case study, it is discussed to what extent urban planning affects the expansion of this trust and analyzes the elements that explain the location logic. From the so-called regulatory and exclusive urban planning and flexible planning, a contradictory process is established that pits the public against the private, and within the same interests of the private sectors to allow or prevent the development of a real estate investment. Based on a review of urban planning instruments and the location of FIBRA Danhos investments, it is concluded that financialization is reaching the core of urban regulations, that is, new mechanisms are being generated that not only regulate heights or intensities of land but are formed as instruments that turn the city into a “financial asset” that is immediately located in the circuits of global financial speculation.