Shared Structures, Private Spaces

Essay, Fernanda Canales, No Density, Politics and economics, Shared Structures. Private Spaces, Southern Coexistences, Territory and mobility

Architecture, Building regulations, Climate, Collective housing, Collective identity, Construction, Context, Earthquake, Economy, Emergency architecture, Emergency Housing, Essay, Heritage, Housing, Industry, Mexico, Mexico City, Political jurisdiction, Politics, Public Space, Self-building, Territory, Territory&Mobility, Urban fabric, Urban planning, Watery Territory

This essay is an excerpt of "Shared Structures. Private Spaces" by Fernanda Canales, published by Actar Publishers -- https://lccn.loc.gov/2017960644

Books about Mexican architecture rarely mention the real conditions underlying construction: for example, in the capital the earth trembles, the city is built over what used to be a lake, rainwater is sent to drainage systems and causes repeated flooding, and distant rivers are drained dry to serve a population that complains about breathing polluted air and builds more parking lots than schools, hospitals, or parks. How should the buildings in a city that moves, sinks, and floods be? What sense does it make to talk about architecture when there are no plans regarding its links to services? What is the relationship between a building, the conditions of the territory, and peoples’ ways of life?