Designing across borders Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico
INTRODUCTION LSU Landscape Architecture 4251, Fall 2004
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wenty-two fifth year landscape architecture students traveled to the town of Ciudad Mier, Mexico to work on a semester long community design project. Mier was founded by the Spanish in the mid seventeen hundreds and emerged as a mercantile center of a ranching region. Working with Professor Bruce Sharky the students developed alternative urban design strategies for incorporating Mier’s historic sites and buildings into a comprehensive cultural tourism proposal. Ciudad Mier was unlike a typical ‘border town’ or ‘tourist city’. Mier was a small town far enough from a major US crossing that it had maintained much of its own original character and traditions. The citizens of Mier took pride in their rich history and culture. How do you implement a new design idea for a city that has seen relatively little change since its founding?
CONCEPT
War Memorial Entrance
DESIGN
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ite design was an interpretation of the laws of the Indies. The laws were reconstituted to create a community focused city. Common spaces were located equidistant throughout the original plat, allowing every citizen easy access to a park or plaza. Streets with plazas adjacent to them became important pedestrian circulation routes within the city.
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he Laws of the Indies have played an important role in the design of many Latin American cities. Interpreting the laws and focusing on the development of public plazas created a hierarchy of roads and pedestrian circulation, while at the same time strengthened the city’s community.
Plaza Coverage Diagram
The redesign of abandoned drainage canals became a secondary means of pedestrian circulation. Citizens were allowed to utilize an existing infrastructure to traverse the city. The lush planting would assist in bioremediation of storm water and provide much desired shade. Riverfront parks were also designed for wildlife conservation and bioremediation
measures for the Rio Alamo river. Mier was an important haven for endangered species, and it is important to preserve as much of the existing vegetation in and around the city as possible.
Mier, Original Plat Map
Law 118 of the Laws of the Indies states that the number of Plazas should be proportionate to the number of citizens within the city. With several new plazas, all the citizens of Mier had access to a plaza to recreate and socialize. Neighborhood plazas served both a social and civic program.
Conceptual Master Plan
Typical Drainage Canal Sections
Mier, Historic Urban Core
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