comment unit 13
abdultahnani930
unit_13_comment.docx
http://www.tijuana.gob.mx/ciudad/CiudadDesarrollo.aspx
Andres I. Saavedra-Vazquez
On-Site Investigation
Zona Rio Tijuana Urban Planing
Analyzing the characteristics of the Grand Manner and The Beautiful City movement, I found that the city of Tijuana, Mexico has many of these characteristics. I consider it a great City to study and relatable to the topics discussed in class. My site visit was in the “Zona Rio” area, this part of the city is known for three main characteristics; first, the canonization of the “Rio Tijuana”. The placement of monuments and sculptures of emblematic figures such as National Heroines and the establishment of the 4 main avenues of the city.
Tijuana Mexico is a city with 1.5 million habitants and was founded less than 200 years ago (Montezolomo). The majority of the residents are immigrants that come from all over the nation and other countries. These individuals came to Tijuana in most cases to cross the border in search of the American dream. For these and other reasons such as deportation and corrupt governments, Tijuana sometimes gives a bad impression. The reality is that Tijuana is an interesting and dynamic city that is an example of how governmental interventions to improve city life is effective. This successful part of Tijuana is known as “Zona Rio”.
The transformations of “Zona Rio” started in 1940 by a decree signed by the President Lazaro Cardenas, this intervention had two main drives. The first was that Tijuana has always been a tourist destination and has had good urban planning having the potential to benefit the economy of the country (“Urbanismo en Tijuana”…). The second reason was because the Tijuana River represents a hazard to the people that live around it. When it rained, the river grew to the point that it overflowed and destroyed the life around.
The urban planing for “Zona Rio” consisted of a major modifications to the infrastructure to the disorganized city. One of the main moves was to divide the city to specific colonies after doing this division, they had to solve the problem of the river. They built a giant canal that took the water to the city protecting from future flooding. Many people had to leave their homes and were obligated to sell their property for about 25 cents a square foot. People felt frustrated by this and refused to move from their homes. In September 24, 1973, the navy forced more than 300 families out. In a newspaper named El Heraldo, the socialist Rosas Magallon qualified this evacuation as violent and un civilized (Ramirez).
When the improvements were finished, a new city emerged. Besides the canalization, four main streets were paved throughout the city invading the space where houses were in place. These streets are Via Rapida Poniente, Via Rapida Oriente, Bulebar Lazaro Cardenaz and Ave. Porfirio Diaz. These streets allowed for better vehicle circulation connecting all the important parts of the city in a straight shot way(“Urbanismo en Tijuana…”). In the first phase of the urban planning, Bulebar Lazaro Cardenaz and Ave. Porfirio Diaz were decorated with monuments in the roundabouts. These monuments represent historical heritage, for example, Cuauhtemoc in the intersection of Paseo de los Heroes and Bulebar Cuauhtemoc. This is one of about thirty monuments and sculptures that were placed in “Zona Rio”.
There are many similarities the connect the development of “Zona Rio” Tijuana and concepts that we learned in this class. It is important to mention that there is a big time gap between the origins of this movement in 1970 and Grand Manner with the modification of Paris of the 1980’s , the Beautiful City movement of the 1920’s and even before of the suburbanization after the World War II. Even though there was a time difference, the city of Tijuana suffered from the same problems and consequences of previous movements. I think that any major modification to a city will have negative consequences to a sector of the population, the displacement of families form homes is something that affects society. This effect is more negative when people are displaced from their land to build a stadium like in Chavez Revine, Los Angeles. Tijuana had a different scenario because the intentions of the modifications were to improve the city infrastructure. The problem was that they used excessive force and injustice to force people out from their homes such as Haussmann and the modification of Paris. Many people might argue that the result of it was something positive but the harm that they did to those families is something that prevails in history.
The way that “Zona Rio” relates to the Beautiful City movement is when the government tried to give culture to the people by placing monuments. On the contrary of the unsuccessful movement of the Beautiful City, these monuments had a positive effect over the residents of Tijuana. It is a tradition that when a national team wins and international tournament these monuments become a place of congregation and raises cultural pride.
There are many positive things about the urban planning of “Zona Rio”. Without a doubt it is the most successful urban design of Tijuana City. I regret the way they used force to remove 300 families. Given these examples, it is important to consider the families that are around and living on the redeveloped area before construction. The monuments are something that will have different effect depending on which city it is applied to. The Americanization was not successful because of the cultural variety of this nation. In the case of Tijuana, it worked because it is connected to its historical roots and doesn’t overlap with other social cultures.
Bibliography
Montezemolo, Fiamma, Rene Peralta, and Heriberto Yépez. Hire Is Tijuana. London: Black Dog Pub, 2006. Print.
Ramírez, David Piñera, and Rivera Delgado José Gabriel. Tijuana in History: Just Crossing the Border. Tijuana: Consejo Nacional Para La Cultura Y Las Arte, 2013. Print. Colección Divulgación Cultural.
"Urbanismo En Tijuana: La Canalización Del Río 1960-1980 (Primer Borrador)." Urbanismo En Tijuana: La Canalización Del Río 1960-1980 (Primer Borrador). Ed. Diego Saavedra. Universidad Autónoma De Baja California. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.å
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