{"id":27005,"date":"2025-08-01T15:42:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T21:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/interventions\/making-meridas-urban-landscape-viable\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T16:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T22:56:14","slug":"making-meridas-urban-landscape-viable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/history-and-culture\/making-meridas-urban-landscape-viable\/","title":{"rendered":"Making M\u00e9rida\u2019s Urban Landscape Viable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learn about what took place during the workshop \u201c<\/span>Making M\u00e9rida\u2019s Urban Landscape Viable\u201d <\/b>with Andrea Conde. This collaborative initiative aimed to rethink the city\u2019s expansion and its surroundings from a landscape perspective, grounded in the historical, archaeological, and ecological knowledge of the region. An initiative guided by Dr Benjam\u00edn Vis.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>A transdisciplinary workshop to imagine sustainable satellite cities grounded in the vernacular history of the landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Conociendo el sitio (Komch\u00e9n) \/ Getting to know the site (Komch\u00e9n)
Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Rob Roggema<\/p><\/div>\n

From June 18 to 27, 2025, an intensive workshop took place at the Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s Cultural Center (UADY), aimed at reimagining M\u00e9rida\u2019s urban growth and its surrounding areas through a landscape perspective rooted in the historical, archaeological, and ecological knowledge of the territory. Titled Making M\u00e9rida\u2019s Urban Landscape Viable: Vernacular Adaptive Land-Use Patterns for a Socioecological Life, the workshop brought together specialists from diverse disciplines, including urbanism, archaeology, architecture, anthropology, philosophy, and ecology.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Archivo del sitio (Caucel) \/ Site archive (Caucel)
Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Rob Roggema<\/p><\/div>\n

This initiative is part of a research project led by Dr Benjam\u00edn Vis (Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles) funded by the European Union through the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions program for scientific excellence. The project explores long-term urban morphology in the region, identifying land-use patterns inherited from pre-Hispanic Maya agro-urban landscapes to inform contemporary sustainable urban design.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Visita al sitio \/ Site visit
Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Rob Roggema<\/p><\/div>\n

The workshop followed the charrette methodology\u2014an intensive, collaborative design process\u2014applied in three of M\u00e9rida\u2019s fast-growing satellite cities: Caucel, Kanas\u00edn, and Komch\u00e9n. These places served as urban laboratories to explore how vernacular patterns and practices\u2014such as the extensive use of patios, the organization of urban blocks, and the integration of agricultural and residential uses\u2014can inspire innovative proposals rooted in contemporary indigenous urban logic.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Archivo del sitio (Kanas\u00edn) \/ Site archive (Kanas\u00edn)
Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Rob Roggema<\/p><\/div>\n

The coordinating team included Esteban Mart\u00ednez Hern\u00e1ndez (INTBAU Cuba and Andrea+U Studio), Nahuel Beccan \u00c1vila (BD+P Urbanism and Landscape and Xicalli Coliuhqui, an archaeology and urbanism studio), Arjan van Timmeren (TU Delft) and Rob Roggema (Tecnol\u00f3gico de Monterrey). The workshop also benefited from the participation of students, academics, and community representatives, as well as the support of key institutions including the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Anthropological Sciences (UADY), the Embassy of Belgium in Mexico, UN-Habitat Mexico, the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU), the Institute of Mobility and Territorial Urban Development (IMDUT), and the municipalities of M\u00e9rida, Kanas\u00edn, and local commissioners.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vista de la propuesta preliminar en Komch\u00e9n \/ View of a preliminary proposal in Komch\u00e9n
Visualizaci\u00f3n \/ Visualization: Ismael Pimentel<\/p><\/div>\n

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Vista de la propuesta en Komch\u00e9n \/ View of the proposal in Komch\u00e9n
Visualizaci\u00f3n \/ Visualization: Ismael Pimentel<\/p><\/div>\n

The workshop addressed multiple scales of urban design:<\/span><\/h5>\n
    \n
  • The solar (residential lot) and the Maya vernacular home as regenerative units;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The urban block as a collective spatial fabric;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The regional socio-ecological master plan for each satellite city;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Expressing the evidence-base through a cultural and symbolic narrative of the Maya heritage landscape as a foundation for envisioning future urban forms with identity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \"\"

    Mapeo a mano \/ Hand-drawn mapping
    Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Andrea Conde<\/p><\/div>\n

    The proposals developed during the workshop aim to offer viable alternatives to the real-estate-driven urbanism that dominates the region currently. Instead, they advocate an urban growth model that embraces the continuity of the Maya landscape as a living source of social, ecological, and spatial innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The workshop proposals advocate an urban growth model that embraces the continuity of the Maya landscape as a living source of social, ecological, and spatial innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"\"

    Mapeo urbano \/ Urban mapping
    Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Andrea Conde<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"

    Benjam\u00edn Vis, Esteban Mart\u00ednez Hern\u00e1ndez, Rob Roggema y Anouk Roggema
    Fotograf\u00eda \/ Photography: Andrea Conde<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Learn about what took place during the workshop \u201cMaking M\u00e9rida\u2019s Urban Landscape Viable\u201d with Andrea Conde. This collaborative initiative aimed to rethink the city\u2019s expansion and its surroundings from a landscape perspective, grounded in the historical, archaeological, and ecological knowledge of the region. An initiative guided by Dr Benjam\u00edn Vis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":26980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27007,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27005\/revisions\/27007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}