Second biggest city in the world : The « Insurgentes » Avenue, which parts the city, gives an idea of the dimension of Mexico City. Starting from the North of the city, by the Pachuca freeway (the one you take to go to Teotihuacán pyramids), it is only a straight line crossed by a «glorieta » that divides it in two parts (South Insurgentes and North Insurgentes), before ending at the very South, by the freeway going to Cuernavaca, a neighbor city. This avenue is 50 km (32 miles) long, with three to five lanes in both ways. These two ways are divided by the elevated railroad in the Northern part.
Veritable megalopolis : Stretching out on more than 3000 km2, Mexico City became, with 23 millions of inhabitants (with the surroundings), one of the most populated (2nd after Tokyo) and the noisiest cities in the world. From an administrative point of view, Mexico City is not a «city» but a Federal district. The mayor is elected by direct universal suffrage.

     Above picture : view on Mexico City

The city lies in the bottom of a vast valley, at an elevation of more than 2240 m, dominated by the majestic summits of the Popocatépetl (still active), Iztaccihuatl and the Sierras that merge there. Thanks to a program of alternated circulation « Hoy no circulo » and the efforts (still insufficient) from the municipality since about fifteen years (it opens green ways and close fabrics and cement works), the automobile traffic has been reduced by 20%.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, 14% of the city surface was occupied by green ways and only 2.2% nowadays (2008).

     Right picture: View from the Latin-American Tower

This city, protected by the mountains, enjoyed a pleasant microclimate (an annual average of 22° C or 66° F) for years, but the air remains, today, very polluted because of the development of the traffic and the industrial activity. 3.5 million automobiles circulate every day; 7 million users a day take the subway or the collective transportation. Yet, the architectural wealth and the unusual atmosphere reigning there make this city an attractive capital.





The architecture is low. Not building too high is due to a sure wisdom since earthquakes are frequent and sometimes deadly like the one in September 1985.


In the business neighborhood, from Polanco to the Park of Alameda, along the Paseo de la Reforma, the chic Avenue of Mexico, or Insurgentes-South, stand high glass buildings that underline the rivalry of Mexico City with the American cities : Mexico City, sister of Houston or Los Angeles.

Left picture: A clock in the historic center, Mexico City