Central Business Districts of the Two Laredos

Bibliographic Data

ID4491093
AuthorsJames R Curtis (0000-0001-9529-845X, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume83
Issue1
Pages54
Publication date1993-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/215380
OpenAlexW1996120204
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited7

PAIRED cities along the United States-Mexico border are often referred to as twins, implying that they share common functional and morphological characteristics. Unsubstantiated assumptions of this sort, which stem from an absence of detailed city-level comparisons of landuse patterns, prompt examination of the structure of the central business districts (CBDs) in two cities on opposites sides of the Rio Grande: Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. The goal is to identify the differences and similarities in types and distributions of selected commercial activities and to speculate on the factors that explain the creation of these distinctive retail landscapes, including the growth of a transborder consumer market. THE TWO LAREDOS The two Laredos have been characterized as twins ... more like Minneapolis and St. Paul than the U.S. and (Cutler 1991, 46). The two Laredos do indeed have a documented history of tightly intertwined social and economic connections (Sloan and West 1976; Hinojosa 1983) and are usually considered among the most functionally interrelated of the eighteen paired cities that front the 3,218-kilometer border. Founded by the Spanish in 1775, Laredo is reputedly the oldest continuously occupied settlement in Texas (Hansen 1981, 48); its Mexican counterpart arose after the creation of the border in 1848 (Richer 1958). Arrival of the railroads in the late nineteenth century brought a measure of prosperity and growth and established transportation as an important component in the local economies (Villarreal Pena 1986, 15-17). Both cities have since become regionally significant transportation hubs. Located about 257 kilometers southwest of San Antonio and 241 kilometers northeast of Monterrey, the two Laredos serve as gateways to the interiors of their respective countries. Nuevo Laredo has emerged as the premier import location for foreign goods into Mexico along the entire border, which accounts for one-third to one half of all such activities (Trabis 1985, 62-67). This development relates in part to the growth of Laredo as a principal port of entry for low-cost, mass-produced consumer goods from Asia, especially textiles and electronic equipment. In 1991, 429,999 loaded trucks reportedly crossed the border at Laredo; 269,960 were southbound, and 160,039 were northbound (Los Angeles Times 1992). The volume of southbound truck traffic at Laredo was the highest among the border cities, and northbound truck traffic ranked second only to that of El Paso. Traditionally the economies of both Laredos have focused on retail and wholesale trade, with a secondary emphasis on services, government, transportation, communications, and public utilities (Austin 1979, 57-59). In recent years, industry has evolved as an important, growing sector of the urban economy. Mirroring a borderwide trend, the number of maquiladora assembly plants operating in Nuevo Laredo has increased tenfold since the early 1980s to slightly more than one hundred. These factories are a significant source of employment for inhabitants of both cities (Cutler 1991, 47-48). Such economic reorientation, coupled with high rates of in-migration and natural increase, has fueled population growth. The combined population of the metropolitan complex, which in 1950 was about 110,000, had risen by 1990 to more than 350,000. As is typical of paired cities along the border, Nuevo Laredo is the larger of the two, with an official, but probably undercounted, population of 217,912 (Instituto Nacional 1990). For a long time the population of Laredo has been predominantly Hispanic in origin, 93 percent according to the 1990 census. One result of such profound demographic and economic change has been the formation of a dynamic transborder consumer market. Although the market is difficult if not impossible to measure with any degree of accuracy, one indication of its importance is that Laredo, whose per capita income is relatively low by United States standards, ranks among the highest cities in per capita retail sales; in 1991, retail sales reportedly averaged $11,619 for every resident (Los Angeles Times 1991, A-1

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