The picture below is a view from my apartment in China, where I lived from 2017 to 2020. Electrify Everything is the title of one of dozens of solutions proposed in the book Re Generation: Ending the climate crisis in one generation (2021) The main argument of this solution is that our energy infrastructure must … Continue reading Electrify Everything by Microgrids: A Case for Energy Transition in Cities
Gasoline stations have been objects of interest in the fields of architecture and urban studies for decades. Frank Lloyd Wright completed the R. W. Lindholm Service Station in 1958. The design of this building foresaw the role of filling stations as part of the aesthetic condition of cities in the 20th century. In this project, Wright positioned the car at … Continue reading Urban Mobility and Architecture: Designing Small, Approachable Infrastructures of Transportation in China
Don Juan and Doña Socorro: I met Don Juan and Doña Socorro in January 2012, during one of my PhD field trips to Mexico. Both were over 80 years old, and lived on the “Hill of the Mask”. They passed away few years ago. This text is a homage to their legacy. This couple were the guardians of an archaeological site formed by stone-glyphs craved more than 1,000 years … Continue reading The Sustainable House of Don Juan and Doña Socorro
Canal Nacional. Mexico City. 2021. Ernesto Valero Thomas The year is 2021. Mexico City and its immediate surroundings have experienced a persistent ecocide on their lands and bodies of water for at least 60 years. During half of this time (the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) the dystopian narrative reached its peak. It shaped a bleak … Continue reading Drops in the Valley: Claiming Waterscapes in Mexico City
Mapping. I truly believe that hybrid methods of mapping help to achieve better architecture and ecological design. For nearly a decade I have studied the role of hybrid cartography as a key tool that transforms cities and towns across the world. That is what I call Sustainable Cartography. Everything is mappable. From cities to the … Continue reading Mapping Water: Cartographic Lessons from Ancient China
Every time I come across the topic of sustainable urban mobility, walkability is treated as a key factor to improve our experience in cities. However, my feeling is that more often than not, walkability as a mode of transport is associated only with leisure and recreation. A marketing strategy, a sugar coat concept in thousands … Continue reading Walkable Cities, a matter of geometry
On certain occasions, words used in the mass media capture the spirit of the times. The term Eco-Anxiety is all over the news. It is treated as a raising psychological condition that is affecting the global population, particularly children and teens. While some people blame it on ecological alarmists and panic mongers, there are good … Continue reading In Search of Eco-Storytellers
Sustainable Orientalism. I have explored this concept since 2011. It has helped me to identify and expose discourses, representations, and institutions that separate the notion of Sustainable Development in 'advanced' (Western Europe, North America) and 'less advanced' (Latin America, Africa, South Asia) regions. To counter this, I advocate the construction of hybrid cartographic systems of … Continue reading Sustainable Orientalism: Western Fantasies of Mexico and their Representations
Architecture, Ecology & Cities 