What we know as ‘the environment‘ is determined by the way in which human beings think about and represent their surroundings. Efforts to preserve ecosystems must incorporate a cultural dimension from which the concept of ‘nature’ is construed. When talking about cities and the environment we must take into account the organisms that make up the urban jungle: flora and fauna — including human beings as part of the fauna — and how they relate to their environment, to what extent they need it, how they perceive it, use it, adopt it, infringe on it, look after it, and destroy it. ≤ A fundamental feature of the urban ecosystem is its inability to regulate itself, since it requires enormous quantities of imported energy and materials in order to function. This, added to inadequate waste treatment, means it is both rapacious and highly polluting, since as well as consuming its own resources and that of others, it wrecks distant ecosystems. ≤ Few ecosystems in the world are as unsustainable as Mexico City, with twenty million people, low ecological awareness and lacking in suitable technology to deal with environmental challenges. Nevertheless, limiting our view of the urban jungle to a simple machine for the creation of ecological crises gets us nowhere: thanks to its specific geographical location, Mexico City remains an extremely diverse urban habitat. Yet the city‘s relationship with its surrounding region has to be — and can be — improved.
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