A tale of two cities : the regulation of particulate air pollution in Mexico City and Los Angeles

Mexico City and Los Angeles have employed very similar air pollution abatement programs yet their results have been disparate. Particulate and ozone pollution levels have been significantly reduced in Los Angeles but not in Mexico City. The reasons for this difference in effectiveness are specific to each context. The implementing agencies in Mexico City lack the requisite institutional capacity, political resources and financial resources to adequately address the particulate and ozone air pollution problem. Subsequently, any policies aimed at reducing the particulate levels in Mexico City need to be tailored towards overcoming these institutional barriers. Policies that can accommodate these constraints include creating an independent, autonomous regulatory agency, increasing environmental education and activism at a grass roots level and coupling health and environmental concerns so that air pollution abatement programs provide net fiscal benefits.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Krebs, Daniel J. (Daniel James), 1975-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence S. Bacow.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68354

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68354