It wasn’t the earthquake, it was the market Post-disaster displacements in Benito Juárez Municipality (CDMX)cdmx)

Abstract

This article examines intra-urban displacement in Benito Juárez Municipality following the September 19, 2017 earthquake in Mexico City. Its objective is to understand how reconstruction processes and real estate dynamics shaped forms of deferred displacement. Drawing on a qualitative methodology based on urban ethnography, forty interviews conducted between 2018 and 2026, and  documentary analysis, the study reconstructs the trajectories of affected residents. The findings show that rising rents, redensification, and real estate speculation limited the return of middle- and working-class populations, revealing tensions between housing rights and neoliberal urban governance. Although the study focuses on three neighborhoods, its findings are relevant for understanding broader urban
dynamics. Its originality lies in conceptualizing displacement
as a prolonged, deferred, and structurally produced process. It concludes that the disaster did not end with the earthquake but was reconfigured through real estate market dynamics.