Lilia Del Río
Architect, urbanist, Centre for Urban Studies, Estonian Academy of Arts (EE)
Last-Resource Urbanism: The month-long street camp in Mexico City
Keywords: Ephemeral uses of public space, collective act, symbolic space, tactical urbanism, spectacle, public space, rethinking urban planning.
Reviewing some of the Situationists' ideals, this paper discusses the tactical strike camping in Mexico last summer from a socio-spatial perspective, as an alienated local, I wander through the temporary superimposed city that situates itself over the streets of the heavy permanent grid of Mexico City's centre. I see this political strategy as an opportunity for the people to act on the urban weave as it is their creative vehicle. In such an act, people took over and claim that the streets were their last resource .
Lilia del Rio is a human, trained as an architect and urbanist in Mexico and Estonia, in search for the experience of the urban space as a tool for planning and changing the city and its perception. Her projects include research, installations and writings about the city as a playground, as a canvas for the citizen to recreate views of his/her own world, and as an alienated place where media and symbols take over the sensible and mental spheres. Currently she is working in the Estonian Academy of Arts in the Centre for Urban Studies. Follower of Yogi Bhajan and proud Kundalini Yoga teacher.