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05.05.26

Soft Infrastructure: Adaptive Reuse and Ecological Restoration in Mexico

Event Big Swings (2025)
May 5th, 2026
8:30am - 10:30am
COOKFOX
250 W 57th St 17th floor, New York, NY 10107, USA

Iñaki Echeverria is a Mexican architect and entrepreneur who integrates design and architecture into the field of infrastructure, exploring the intersection of science, technology, and ecology as an opportunity to reimagine and reimagine infrastructures, buildings, and landscapes. His ideas, which introduce notions of interconnection and complexity of Jung and Panikkar, are reflected in projects such as the Pasta de Conchos Memorial, the Monterrey Children's Museum, the Coatzacoalcos Central Park, and other recycling initiatives. His greatest achievement is the recovery of the Lake Texcoco basin, which he studied for more than 25 years; as director and lead designer, the project reclaimed 14,000 hectares as a Natural Protected Area, reimagined as ecological, social, and biocultural infrastructure focused on the most vulnerable communities in the Valley of Mexico. He is Dean’s Visiting Professor at Columbia and has exhibited & lectured at MoMA, Center for Architecture, Aedes, Harvard, MIT, among others.

Join us for a conversation about Mexico City’s Lake Texcoco Ecological Park with architect and landscape urbanist Iñaki Echeverria.

After the cancellation of a planned international airport around Lake Texcoco, the federal government of Mexico designated 14,000 hectares as a national park and ecological restoration project. El Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco will become the largest urban park in the world.

Through reforestation, revegetation, and the reintroduction of species, the park is recovering a lost ecosystem while restoring the ancient lakebed and managing flooding in the region. It also provides sports, recreation, and community gardens as well as water treatment facilities and a wetlands research center. We’ll hear from the park’s first Director General and Principal Designer Iñaki Echeverria about the approach to creating the park, followed by a conversation with the audience. 

How can architects and designers restore important cultural and ecological sites by working with natural processes instead of against them?

RSVP
Guest & Accessibility Policies

This event is open to Urban Design Forum Fellows and their invited guests.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully.

  • The venue will have an entrance and elevators that are ADA-accessible.
  • This event will have microphones and speakers.
  • If you’re not feeling well, please stay home. Face masks are encouraged, particularly if you have been recently exposed to colds, flus, or other illness. If you have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 10 days, a high-quality, well-fitting face covering is required at all times.
  • Please refrain from wearing strong fragrances to accommodate guests with allergies or environmental sensitivities.
  • If you have additional needs, we will do our best to accommodate. Please contact rsvp@urbandesignforum.org.
About Global Exchange

Global Exchange connects New York City’s civic community to the world’s foremost urban leaders and inspires creative change around shared challenges, from housing and infrastructure to health and resilience. The Global Exchange Speaker Series brings experts from around the world to New York City for lectures and conversations with an audience of distinguished leaders across the fields of policy, advocacy, design, philanthropy, planning and law. 

Continuing Education

This event is been approved for 1.5 AIA CES LUs.

Support

Lead Sponsor

We thank Global Circle members Akerman LLP, Apple Bank, Crescere Collaborative, Fogarty Finger, HKS, Jamie von Klemperer, KPF, Office for the Next Environment, Skylight, and Upside Collab.

Global Exchange is made possible with additional support from our Board of Directors, Circle Members, and company and individual members. Our programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

To learn more about supporting Global Exchange, please contact Miranda Bellizia, miranda@urbandesignform.org.

Image Credit: Luis Gordoa

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