ACUEDUCTO AQUEDUCT
DENSIDAD CLASIFICADA DE CAMPOS AGRICOLAS AG-FIELDS CLASSIFIED DENSITY
VALLE DE CIUDAD DE MEXICO MEXICO CITY VALLEY
(Imagen 1). Región de estudio: agua y producción agrícola se extienden más allá de la mancha urbana de CDMX. Las zonas agrícolas fueron mapeadas por medio de percepción remota (Flavio Sciaraffia, Sourav Kumar Biswas). (Image 1). Region of study: water and agricultural production extend beyond the urban sprawl of CDMX. The agricultural zones were mapped by means of remote sensing (Flavio Sciaraffia, Sourav Kumar Biswas).
CONTEXT
At the global level, agriculture is one of the most disruptive human activities regarding the natural environment, consuming large amounts of water, degrading soils and fragmenting ecosystems of high environmental value. Agriculture is responsible for up to 92% of the global water footprint (AgroDer 2012) and occupies 50% of the land considered habitable (WWF 2016). The present research project explores the potential of architecturAL design and landscape planning to expand the current value of industrial agriculture from an activity that degrades the environment, to a cultural activity with ecological, productive, material and experiential qualities. The research proposes a methodology rooted in the analysis of spatial processes to provide the tools to recover agriculture as a problem and object of design, and therefore expand the potential values of this cultural and productive activity.
hydrological basins, which constitute a mosaic of agricultural valleys, forested sierras and large urban centers; without a doubt, a cultural and productive landscape of great value. However, it is an area that faces major challenges that threaten its sustainability in the long run. In Mexico, 73%¹ of the water footprint is associated with agricultural production, and it is maize, a product with both nutritional and cultural value, the most widely cultivated and consumed basic food in the diet of its inhabitants: 122 kg/year per capita vs 16.8 kg/year per capita worldwide (AgroDer 2012). The region is home to one of the largest urban centers in the world, exceeding 20 million inhabitants, who demand a large amount of resources, such as food and water. Considering also that the region has high levels of water stress in its watersheds, elements such as water and irrigated productive landscapes are then vital. In this context, the project constitutes a reference on how water and food safety of CDMX, as well as the subsistence of the rural communities immersed in the productive landscapes, depend on alternative strategies of agricultural production. These strategies have the potential to allow current production practices to generate positive effects such as soil and water conservation, generation of greater biodiversity and promotion of sustainable production, among others, through the design of agricultural processes (image 1).
ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
The present project comprehensively investigates what can be called “the total space of agriculture” : from its socio-ecological implications in an extended geographical area, to crop varieties, management strategies, technologies and the design potential through these categories. The case study is located in Mexico City (CDMX) and its surrounding
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