On the Diffusion of Modernist Urban Models: An Overview of Mexico City's Planning and Urban Design Projects (1921-1952)

This paper identifies critical international sources for conceptual and practical inspiration followed and assimilated by Mexican urbanists during the first half of the twentieth century. It focuses on the diffusion of Modernist urban models and their progressive incorporation and adaptation at the scales of city planning and urban design. The way in which Modernist urban models were known, interpreted and adapted to practice to meet social needs also enticed attempts to construct a cultural identity, regarded both as 'modern' and as 'Mexican'. In particular, this issue is crucial to an understanding of some of the most relevant urban projects designed in Mexico during the post-revolutionary period (1921-1952), a time of great expectations for social change, for growing nationalism and confidence in progress.

During the period reviewed, the diffusion of Modernist urban models provided solutions which were followed and tested against Mexican circumstances. However, unlike scientific or technological experiences developed in other fields of knowledge, which were normally transposed to generate patterns of use without further cultural criticism, those related to urbanism required adaptation to local customs, climatic conditions, economic, geographic and environmental situations, as well as social and political visions. Thus, the use of Modernist urban models generated in the end different outcomes when compared to the outcomes of more developed countries (such as France, United States and Britain).
In this respect, it can be argued that diffusion and interpretation of Modernist ideas regarding city planning and urban design involved dynamic interactions that were often not unidirectional. This multidirectional diffusion thus provides grounds for discussion on the transferral process of theoretical concepts and practical planning techniques. This is a discussion that appears charged in terms of cultural response.

This paper reviews several influential urban models that were proposed and intended to solve Mexican urban and social problems, following previous experiences with European and American models. Some of them were assimilated and reinterpreted in often creative, innovative ways, as observed in key examples of city planning and urban design projects focused on Mexico City between the late 1920s and the early 1950s.
Such urban models were not only absorbed, but also developed in practice. Later, these models have been considered to have enriched the urban experience and urban design practice in Mexico. This view provides an interesting perspective on the evolution of urban and city planning ideas from international levels to local levels. Given that Mexico's urban design exemplifies urban design models as responsive to local and regional concerns, thus broadening and enriching the meaning of the international models. Ultimately Mexico's recent urban design history provides evidence for planning theory as an evolving process and conduit for the exchange of cultural experiences and practices.