De pueblo pequeño a ciudad media. Esquemas migratorios hacia Ciudad Acuña, frontera norte de Coahuila, México

Abstract

The link between migration and urbanization most often been studied from the perspective of the big cities. This leads to a poor understanding of economic, social and urban transformations in small towns. And a poor understanding of their transition from small town to mid-size city. Other analyzes do not show the different forms of migration to towns and cities: for example, the movements of people arriving to join the community, the movements of those who remain in them as a starting point to reach their goal of reaching a international destination, the movements themselves are rooted in border areas, and the pendulum swings between border cities of varying hierarchy. This study aims to help fill the gap in the study of the mobility of the population and its link with the processes of urbanization of small towns, through theoretical and conceptual discussion and empirical analysis of a case study. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to knowledge and understanding of migration analyzed from the perspective of small towns and their link with international migration. The aim is to analyze the migration flow that goes to Ciudad Acuña and characteristics of immigrants to understand their particular migratory pattern. These diagrams can help understand the specificities of this town located on the northern border of Mexico. I want to analyze whether the evidence found in Acuña can contribute further to the theoretical model of King et al (2008). The authors propose an integrated scheme for the analysis of migration, where the movement of people between areas of two or more countries is part of the same phenomenon. That is, linking internal migration and international migration as a single process. Evidence of Ciudad Acuna, a small town that became medium-sized city in the nineties, is a sample of the experience of urban and economic growth in major cities of the current Mexican northern border. And also to analyze a scheme extended when migratory strategies of families -who at one time came to the city in search of employment- and potentially integrate with international migration experience. The study of immigrants through its familiar pattern and migration history, helps to show the elements that can build a complete migration process. That is, a scheme that integrates two types or forms migratory scheme linked to urban hierarchies.