The city that we expect

A little bit of sky

The city has a dollar sign in it, no doubt. As a finite value, the territory represents a product of change we all crave to transact at least once in our life, with that intrinsic desire of human beings to own at least one piece of land to feel that we belong to a colony, a city or a region. And on our way to make city, location always matter; we represent segregation and social stratification in documents with the name of “development plans”... as Sandra Rinomato on Property Virgins was never tired of emphasizing "location, location, location!" .

We have a trauma post-Le Corbusier which has not left us to apply new ways of making city (at least in Mexico); in 2014 we still make cities as 1933 following an archaic Athens Charter that despite having been brought back on 2003, apparently has not diminished in architectural and urban areas. But only separate urban from architectural work is a task that we still have not done; Civil engineers project cities, architects project storm drains and urban planners... well, here we have graduates, masters and doctors in urban doing something, because in the city we do not see them yet.

Breaking the paradigm of what is done and what should be done should not be so difficult when we all apparently know that. Changing views of the bay by fences, parking lots without landscape or vegetation, convenience stores with spectacular neon signs or buildings that do not respect the typology of the region, are just some of the elements that we are used to seeing, turning roadways as spectacular as the transpeninsular that connects San José del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas, in one more copy of Periferico or Viaducto in Mexico City. Is this what the local and foreign tourists wish to see in Los Cabos?

We cannot fix something that is not broken - yet - but we can break it soon or improve considerably. The architectural and urban actions should certainly have criteria to improve what we have now in a kind of preventive urban acupuncture; aware that large government actions would be unnecessary if people (owners, investors, developers, architects and all people in general) act with commitment and we are responsible for our work, especially in a region where urban development and the growth of urban sprawl, far exceeds the ability of the authorities to give solution to such a complex issue facing “the city" and private sector are who actually do planning.

We have much to do and every action no matter how small, counts... I could say that the smallest actions are those that contribute most to making city: plant a tree in front of my house, watering and pruning it; turn on the lamp every night at the entrance, throwing garbage into the container only when the truck picks it up, build and care the pedestrian sides. Caring for our spaces is everyone task and requires more common sense and interest than money. And as part of the group of "experts" involved in the city's actions, definitely we have to be much more tangible and hopeful: propose the reuse of gray water, use saving bathroom furniture, propose vernacular systems to leverage the benefits of the weather before using systems that have expensive high energy requirement, avoid the use of polluting materials and find ways to reintegrate the environmental damage that human hand generates on it.

Few days ago I went out for a walk in the evening. Inertia took me to the sea and I could enjoy some time in the Navy; how architecture evolves me in a pedestrian corridor full of uses and activities for locals and visitors in a healthy environment is indescribable. Feeling part of a place that has so much to offer and every day will complement with more diversity of people, places and sensations, is one of the best situations in lifetime. I took a coffee while awaiting the night and through the palms I was able to see the clouds in the sky… something that everyone should enjoy at least once in life ... but keep it, should be everyone's job every day.

JPV