Local spatial-autocorrelation and urban ring identification in Mexico City's Regional Belt

We explore the urban structure of eight metropo- litan areas that surround Mexico City, forming its regional belt, by identifying spatial clusters within metropolitan areas with a regionally standardized local-spatial-autocorrelation procedure. The analysis reveals clear concentric urban ring patterns around the city centers; these patterns have different levels of complexity, suggesting diverse stages of evolution of the urban structure of these metropolitan areas.