Ciudad Futura: Proposals for a Livable Mega-City

Great cities offer great lessons. Mexico City is an ideal laboratory for students in the built environments fields. With a population close to 25 million people, this mega-city provides a unique urban experience – a place that is constantly reforming and adapting to new and changing landscapes.

This exhibit highlights the experiences and projects of the 12 students who participated in the Department of Architecture’s Mexico City study abroad program. Held in the Luis Barragan studio, the students spent 10 weeks walking the surrounding streets and visiting neighboring townships to learn about the design culture, context, and environment of this expansive metropolitan. For their project Professor Dave Miller and Cory Mattheis, M. Arch ’11, tasked the students with designing a new zoning proposal for the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood. While each student had an individual site, collectively their proposals needed to add up to a larger statement about the neighborhood and city. Throughout the course the instructors emphasized designing plans that would increase density while respecting the content and history of the area.
The exhibit also showcases a series of historic images of Mexico City provided by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The photographs document the urban from the 1930s to the 1960s – a time of rapid change and growth.