Infrastructure as a vehicle for community building : an urban design strategy for Iztapalapa, Mexico City

Abstract

Mexico City suffers from flooding, water scarcity, pollution, subsidence and enormous financial costs related to water infrastructure. Poor governance contributes to the city's water troubles by creating overlapping political organizations whose interests and administrative purview often conflict. This thesis proposes decentralized water infrastructures implemented at the neighborhood scale, that engage directly with dominant institutional arrangements - namely, the complicated relationship between local government and social organizations representing the needs of informal settlements. The proposal articulates x) a site-specific exploration of design solutions for improving water service in one neighborhood of lztapalapa, 2) a template for coupled social and hydrological development that can be replicated elsewhere in the borough, and 3) a broad argument for multi-performative infrastructure that incorporates, and strengthens, existing reserves of social and political capital. Through these strategies, the thesis addresses the question of how urban designers can use physical infrastructure to not only improve basic service provision but also create new opportunities for community building within and between marginalized urban settlements.