The development of alternative markets in the Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México: 2003-2019

In the Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México (ZMVM) the diverse strategies of alternative production that seek to mitigate the socio-environmental impacts of the dominant agrifood system have influenced the market, mainly under the figure of street alternative markets; however, given the recent proliferation of such initiatives it is worth analyzing the socio-historical journey that alternative markets have faced, the causes of emergence and the contexts that propitiated their appearance.The objective of this text is to document the evolution of street alternative markets of the ZMVM in the period between 2003 and 2019. For this purpose, a participant observation was made in street alternative markets, semi-structured interviews were applied with key actors, and an exhaustive documentary review was carried out, with the intention of highlighting causes, actors and internal and external factors that have fostered or limited their reproduction in the region. Among the results, we found the transformation of street alternative markets from an initiative of collective and self-managed work, towards a private scheme with little margin for decision on the part of the producers