{"id":2962,"date":"2008-04-15T10:30:46","date_gmt":"2008-04-15T15:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/04\/15\/mexicos-messy-urbanism\/"},"modified":"2008-04-15T10:48:57","modified_gmt":"2008-04-15T15:48:57","slug":"mexicos-messy-urbanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/15\/mexicos-messy-urbanism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico’s Messy Urbanism"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexico City is a huge megalopolis of 20 million people, all crowded into a plateau surrounded by volcanic mountains. In many ways, Mexico has the same messy urbanism<\/a> that defines Toronto. In an earlier post, James Rojas<\/a> remarked how in Toronto, “rickety and ramshackle Victorian buildings sit snugly next to sleek modern 20-story condos. Tree-lined streets of row houses (some restored, many not) run right into bustling commercial boulevards filled with streetcars, bicyclists, traffic, produce vendors.” Mexico City isn’t Toronto, but it has many similar characteristics, with a mix of colonial-era and art deco treasures cheek-jowl to buildings from the 1950s and 1960s that look almost ready to tumble, to grand modernist and interesting post-modern skyscrapers all in the downtown core. <\/p>\n

<\/a>Messy urbanism <\/em><\/p>\n

I had the chance to visit Mexico City on a three-day stopover on my way home from an international conference related to my work a few weeks ago in Merida, Mexico. I originally had plans to meet with local people I knew, but after those plans fell through I made my way around and got to explore on my own. Despite a reputation for crime, I found the city to be as safe as any other, provided one uses basic common sense. The high altitude (over 2 kilometres above sea level) and heavy pollution had their effect, but one gets used to it.<\/p>\n

La Paso Reforma is very much the epitime of a grand boulevard, and is worthy of a European capital. The route is lined with statues and monuments to historical persons and dates in the country’s history and with lots of trees providing shade and visual contrast to the built environment. This route, linking the old City Centre with Chapultepec Park, reminded me of a greener, grander University Avenue, but with the same sterility – the land uses are mostly institutional and office commercial.<\/p>\n

Yet off the main avenues, the architecture and streetscape changes quickly. The greatest contrast to Paseo de la Reforma were the old market streets surrounding the Z\u00e0\u00b3calo<\/a>, which are anything but sterile, but bustling with activity. The Z\u00e0\u00b3calo, the famous central square, and one of the biggest in the world, is surrounded by historic monuments – the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the ruins of the old Aztec city. Taking a bus out to Teotihuac\u00e0\u00a1n<\/a>, I passed by middle class suburbs, shantytowns, and a greenbelt of sorts. It’s an amazing contrast to the typical European or North American cities that I have visited before.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Zocalo from the Torre LatinoAmerica <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>The market area east of the Zocalo <\/em><\/p>\n

I found a few things that might be of interest of regular Spacing Wire readers. The first is the creative streetscaping along Reforma. Surrounding El \u00e0\u0081ngel <\/em>(the most famous monument in the city) are benches, each of a different creative design. It’s a little thing that I thought was rather clever and easily done here.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One other thing that I found interesting was the new Metrob\u00e0\u00bas system<\/a> installed on Avenida Insurgentes, a main north-south street. It was built to address a gap in Mexico City’s 11-line Metro network<\/a> and to reduce congestion, largely caused by the multitude of semi-formal minibuses (which can be described as fixed-route jitnes) that used to provide public transportation on that street. The bus rapid transit system is similar to that in Curitiba, Brazil – inexpensive stations are built in the centre median, with fare payment done upon entry to the stations. Buses have high platform doors on the left side, so only one fare-paid area is required per stop. Like the Metro, each stop has a unique icon to identify it, a system originally intended to assist illiterate passengers, and somewhat similar to Paul Arthur’s TTC signage experiment<\/a>. Short concrete blocks, like those found in parking lots, separate bus-only lanes from general traffic. Buses were packed solid. There are plans to add more BRT routes like that on Insurgentes, as well as a new subway line across the south of the city.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Metrobuses on Avenida Insurgentes at the Reforma stop.<\/em><\/p>\n

Inside a Metrobus stop. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexico City is a huge megalopolis of 20 million people, all crowded into a plateau surrounded by volcanic mountains. In many ways, Mexico has the same messy urbanism that defines Toronto. In an earlier post, James Rojas remarked how in Toronto, “rickety and ramshackle Victorian buildings sit snugly next to sleek modern 20-story condos. Tree-linedContinue reading “Mexico’s Messy Urbanism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,8,6],"tags":[1131,1493,2630,6984,8608,8611,8610,1236,2610,21,6187,8609,857,19,1560],"class_list":["post-2962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-streetscape","category-transit","category-walking","tag-brazil","tag-city-centre","tag-curitiba","tag-james-rojas","tag-merida","tag-messy-urbanism-mexico","tag-metropolitan-cathedral","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-city","tag-other-cities","tag-paul-arthur","tag-presidential-palace","tag-public-transportation","tag-toronto","tag-university-avenue"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMexico's Messy Urbanism - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/15\/mexicos-messy-urbanism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mexico's Messy Urbanism - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mexico City is a huge megalopolis of 20 million people, all crowded into a plateau surrounded by volcanic mountains. 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