The border between the U.S. and Mexico is being built into 700 miles of wall in Texas. Architect Lance Hosey looks at the environmental, ecological and sociological problems it creates.
"The income gap along the U.S.-Mexico border is among the worst anywhere. Yet how are we addressing it? By building a wall: 700 disjointed miles of a 12-to-15-foot-tall barrier spanning parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. At $1.2 billion, it costs nearly $2 million per mile. A ragtag jumble of concrete, steel, and scraps, the completed segments look more like a detention camp than the entrance to a great nation. A far cry from the Statue of Liberty welcoming 'huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'"
"Worse, the barrier disrupts human communities. Nogales straddles the border between Arizona and Mexico, and for 125 years the only thing marking the line was a four-cable cattle fence. But now the wall cuts the city in half and isolates families and friends on opposite sides."
FULL STORY: Eco: Tear Down This Wall
Homeland Security Waives More Than 30 Laws to Expedite Border Wall
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Trump's Border Wall Would Bring 'Ecological Disaster'
Vox offers a feature length article, with lots of visual references, that tells the story of the ecological risks inherent with any plan to build a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Sharing Burritos Across the Border
Architecture prof. Ron Rael redesigns the U.S./Mexico border to encourage interesting interactions rather than just exclusion.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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The States Losing Rural Delivery Rooms at an Alarming Pace
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The Small South Asian Republic Going all in on EVs
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DC Backpedals on Bike Lane Protection, Swaps Barriers for Paint
Citing aesthetic concerns, the city is removing the concrete barriers and flexposts that once separated Arizona Avenue cyclists from motor vehicles.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Smith Gee Studio
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City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)