Mexico The mayor who turned wasteland into a utopia

Mexico City's mayor, Clara Brugada, has never been afraid to court controversy and has taken some imaginative steps in her efforts to undo decades of economic and cultural inequality.

- Luke Taylor

That includes a Boeing 737 being converted into a library and a park where 50ft animatronic dinosaurs tower. Both are part of Brugada's Utopias project.

On a sunny weekday at Utopia Libertad - one of 15 centres built to promote health and wellbeing for the working classes - a father and son rally on a tennis court, teenage girls jog around a racetrack, and 20 retirees swim laps of the pool.

In Iztapalapa this is not just unusual, it is subversive.

"Utopias are a big commitment to equality," says Brugada, who drew up the project as Iztapalapa's mayor before being elected this year as the head of Mexico City's authority. Iztapalapa, where Brugada grew up, is the capital's most deprived and populous neighbourhood.

Two hours from the commercial centre, the concrete sprawl feels a world away from the neocolonial houses and cocktail bars frequented by the wealthy.

The neighbourhood has historically been a dumping ground for ugly, undesirable projects, including the city's landfill and a large prison, which Utopia Libertad now borders.