To complete modernity or to embrace heterogeneity? From historical inequality towards an uncertain future for water infrastructure in Mexico City

Urban geographers continue to debate how services might be provided justly and sustainably to everyone. They have identified two key pathways: completing modern infrastructure systems and pursuing heterogeneous configurations. Why these pathways have different prevalence and support in particular places and times continues to be explored, including how experiences with and histories of modernity and development shape contemporary infrastructure and planning for future infrastructure. In this paper, we examine water infrastructure in Mexico City, where the network extends to nearly all urban residents. Yet, the quality and quantity of the supply vary drastically across the city. Drawing on documentary research and in-depth interviews, we explain why the city’s infrastructure network fails to meet the promise of the modern infrastructural ideal and discuss perceptions of what is needed to conform to modernist expectations about infrastructure, states, and citizens. We then consider a different pathway – embracing heterogeneity. By examining water tankers and household rainwater harvesting, we show the different expectations associated with heterogeneous infrastructure configurations. We consider how the sociotechnical arrangements surrounding these two options point to more and less just and sustainable versions of heterogeneity. We conclude by reflecting on the possibilities these pathways offer.