Abstract:

Mexico City is one of the most dynamic and complex metropolitan areas in the world today. Iztapalapa, located in the southeastern part of the city, is the most populous delegación (borough) with over 1.8 million inhabitants. The Flexible Leviathan studio took place in the spring sumester of 2013 at the Harvard University Gradutae School of Design. Twelve students from the departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Urban Planning worked to produce a vision for Iztapalapa’s Centro Oriente (East Center district), both in the local context of Iztapalapa and in metropolitan terms, thus theorizing the meaning of sustainable urbanism in large cities while also engaging the real world, local context of urban policy-making through urban planning and design intervention.