MARTIN GOMEZTAGLE

After periods of rapid urbanization, densification and the early extinction of green areas, is it possible to recover the natural landscape in the Valley of Mexico-Tenochtitlan – now Mexico City – was founded in 1325 over a limpid lake surrounded by high mountains and plenty of nature. Today, it is a city of 25 million people, with less than 2 m2 of green area per capita. Lack of natural elements in the city, poor air quality, floods and food shortages are serious problems of the city.
Several projects such as the recovery of rivers, urban agriculture and partial revival of the lake are proposed to solve these problems. Projects that are proposed to be developed over the next 50 years – suffer from lack of interest from the authorities – limited budget, non-executed plans, and
rejected projects. However, many citizens and independent groups are interested in participating with several proposals.
Three projects are analyzed and discussed in this paper: The revival project for Lake of Texcoco, by the group Ciudad Futura, states that air quality will improve while a large body of water keeps the runoff retrieved from the mountains, and currently discarded through the drainage system, under control. The restoration of Magdalena and Piedad rivers – which cross the entire city and are currently cased – is the proposal of Taller 13, who bets on improving the image of the city and introducing changes in its motorized mobility. The green roofs and urban farms plan, Arquitectura Experimental’s movement, contributes to improve the aesthetic quality of the city
through the creation of gardens, and promotes its productivity through the cultivation of hydroponics, taking advantage of favorable conditions of expectant spaces in the city. The implementation of these projects will improve the city’s green and blue infrastructure enhancing the quality of life of its inhabitants.

Does an exact replica of an urban settlement within a profound landscape change is good enough to maintain its inhabitants’ identity? This paper addresses the case of Aldeia da Luz, a small village sunken by the construction of the Alqueva dam on the Guadiana River, in the Portuguese region of eastern Alentejo. This construction caused the flooding of 250 km2 of land, transforming a Mediterranean landscape of olive groves, holm oak montados, vineyards, pastures and fields of grain into a landscape of lakes. To minimize the social impact on the inhabitants of the submerged hamlet a new village for 180 families, replicating the old one, was built by the government 3 kms away, beside the water shore. Assuming that the deep changes in the territory caused by the construction of the Alqueva dam affected the relationship between local inhabitants and “their original landscape”, this research aimed to assess the real impact of the efforts to replicate the physical built heritage in order to maintain the identity of the inhabitants relocated. One can conclude that to build a replica of the original habitat is not enough to maintain the identity of a population if one can not restore the disrupted link with their former landscape.

The lack and/or the study into the final useres for social housing in Mexico creates a negative synergy in relation to the habitability conditions, a factor by which the transformation of the territory and the urban-rural texture causes positive and negative results which generate data and statistics to be considered for future decision-making in government programs and inclusive territorial landscapes in the Latin American cities.

La falta y/o el estudio del usuario final de la vivienda social en México crea una sinergia negativa en relación a la condición de habitabilidad, factor por el cual la transformación del territorio y del tejido urbano-rural provoca aciertos y errores que generan datos y estadísticas a considerar para futura toma de decisiones en programas gubernamentales y en la definición de los paisajes y territorios incluyentes en las ciudades latinoamericanas.