Territorial representations and social actors in the territorial reconfiguration of San Miguel Xaltocan

Abstract

In 2019, the federal government negotiated the land for agricultural use with people from San Miguel Xaltocan to construct the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA by its acronym in Spanish) megaproject and promised, in return, the development of several projects with social benefits within the territory. This context created a negotiation and conflict environment between the government and the social actors from the community, an overly complex process due to the multiplicity of interests and different forms of perceiving their territory. Territorial representations of the social actors influenced the space-territory reconfiguration through processes of ownership and territorial scope in the long term. In these representations, some perceptions that constitute opportunities, hopes and risks are involved. The aim of this study was to interpret how territorial representations influence the territorial reconfiguration. The study was developed under the qualitative approach with techniques of semi-structured interview, field tour, the graphic representation projected in the memory of the people and document review.