Magnetic HUB - P4 Reflection

Project Description The project is located in the twin cities El Paso and Cd Juarez within the border area of United Stated and Mexico. During the field trip, we were about to find out the existing problems on site and try to put forward feasible architectural solutions. After the research and on site visit, it is easily found that Cd Juarez is suffering from the imbalance economic development resulted from the strict border control of Americans. It is mostly shown in the following aspect: Socio-economic twin city economic structure is shifting from dual industry of tourism and manufacture to the single maquiladoras industry, that the single economic composition is not healthy for economic development. To pursuit for the opportunities on jobs and crossing border, migrants from the south is gathering in Juarez without merging into the local culture. Which means segregation is happening in the city. Urban decentralization: the city is expanding rapidly and suffering from decentralization because of the crime threats in downtown and job opportunities moving to suburban area. The poor infrastructure results in extending the commuting time on people’s daily life and border crossing.