Urban Designers to Tackle San Diego-Tijuana Urban Challenges

Urban designers and mobility experts from the Netherlands, Mexico, and the United States met to deliberate on the pressing mobility and housing challenges faced by the San Diego-Tijuana region. The meeting was organized by Urban Dialogues, an initiative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the United States.

“One thing that our countries have in common is that more than 80% of our citizens live in cities. And in those cities we face comparable challenges related to climate change, health and mobility. We are grateful to have had this thorough discussion with experts from the United States, Mexico and the Netherlands and the outcomes help us all to find answers to these challenges. Together we can build stronger, more resilient, and sustainable urban communities,” says Dirk Janssen, Consul General of the Netherlands.

An official community event of the World Design Capital 2024, the Netherlands, much like parts of the United States and Mexico, contends with rapid urbanization and its repercussions on the environment, food security, and mobility. Together, the participants scrutinized the cities' fabric to devise innovative solutions.

Participants included representatives from the University of San Diego, the City of Tijuana, the Dutch government, and various local and international designers and enterprises. Discussions centered on circular neighborhoods, addressing issues of affordability and sustainability. Recommendations included leveraging World Design Capital 2024 for ongoing discourse, establishing a collaboration office between San Diego and Tijuana, and making existing solutions with digital twins cross-border to collect and share data. The consensus was to initiate small-scale data collection for retrofitting, use universities for innovation and scaling up, and define and educate the public about circularity, emphasizing long-term economic benefits to developers.

Discussions also focused on making zero-carbon transportation systems accessible for all to enhance sustainable mobility. Equity in transportation was discussed with recognition that it holds different meanings for different people, emphasizing a systemic approach. Participants also discussed implementation and scaling, suggesting starting with pilot projects and learning from bottom-up solutions.

The follow-up plan involves a more in-depth study into the workshop's outcomes and the development of an activity plan to facilitate continued exchange between the participating experts. The backdrop of the discussion lies in the increasing urbanization worldwide, with 55% of the global population already residing in cities, a number that could potentially rise to 70% by 2050.