Mexican architect and urbanist, Pablo Lazo will present his ongoing research on Mexico City. He will introduce four key ecologies – wastewater infrastructure, modernist social housing projects of mid-20th century, old village settlements in the valley, and the eastern plains – that have defined the city's urban growth during the 20th century and offer a mixture of geography, climate, demographics, transport, and trade. Using aerial views and diagrams, he shows a city shaped by chaos and dystopian urban experiments, such as Mexico City's massive water infrastructure. But the research is not just critical of these elements; rather Lazo finds also excitement in these aspects of urban infrastructure.
Lazo is currently Director of Urban Development for the World Resources Institute, and for more than decade he was Deputy Director for the British design, consulting, and engineering company ARUP, where he led architecture and urban planning projects in various parts of the world.
This lecture presents the research of a forthcoming publication under the support of Mexico’s Ministry of Culture.
Lunch will be served.
Providing expert commentary on urban topics and highlighting Penn IUR's research in the context of pressing urban issues.
