Shaping the Sultan of the Mexican North: Public Safety and Prosperity in Monterrey

Monterrey has played a critical role in the development of Mexico’s urban and industrial profile.  Best known as Latin America’s primary industrial city, it developed into a center of economic advancement.  In the burgeoning historiography of the region, however, too little attention has been given to the relationship between public order and economic success.  Since the late 1800s, civic leaders from this city just 150 miles from the Texas border have promoted the city as a safe and stable destination for capital investment from foreigners and Mexicans alike.  State and municipal government, inspired by European and North American models, modernized criminal codes and municipal ordinances, and also attempted to facilitate this growth by developing new instruments of social control.  For example, they built a new penitentiary in the center of the city as a symbol of government’s dedication to civic order and public safety, as well as warning to the city’s inhabitants of the consequences of disturbing public order.

But as waves of migrants from the Mexican countryside moved into the city, population growth challenged the ability of authorities to maintain their vision of public order and economic progress. Although the growth of slums accelerated in the 20^th century, civic leaders were nevertheless successful in promoting public order policies that enhanced the city’s reputation as business capital.  Thus, Monterrey, Mexico’s most important industrial city, offers a transnational perspective on the perceptions and realities of public safety in modernizing cities of the developing world