- Rómulo Rozo, Univercidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico: Ciudad Universitaria (undated)
- Keith L. Eggener, 'Settings for History and Oblivion in Modern Mexico', in: Jean-Francois Lejeune (ed.), Cruelty and Utopia: Cities and Landscapes of Latin America, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2003
- Celia Ester Arredondo Zambrano, 'Modernity in Mexico: The Case of Ciudad Universitaria', in: Edward R. Burian (ed.), Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico, University of Texas Press, USA 1997
type of New Town:
> scale of autonomy
New-Town-in-Town
Satellite
New Town
Company Town
> client
Private Corporation
Public Corporation
> policy
Capital
Decentralization
Industrialization
Resettlement
Economic
The Campus for the National Autonomous University of Mexico is situated in the southern part of Mexico City. The old University of Mexico being outmoded, made the federal government buy land between 1943 and 1947 and after an internal competition commission architects to develop an overall plan for a new, integrated campus. Ciudad Universitaria was the product of a collaboration between more than 150 architects, engineers and landscape architects - the biggest team to work on any architectural project in Mexico up to that time - led by Mario Pani, Enrique del Moral and Mauricio Campos (who died in the early stages of the project). It is sited in relation to the ruins of Cuicuilco - a pre-Hispanic City leaving only a single temple - making it, although new, not totally built from scratch, but interwoven with history. Some of the most important examples of modern architecture in Mexico are built here, and the urban composition responds to the principals of modern urbanism. Ciudad Universitaria is an axially planned super block city with circulation systems separated and activities zoned, isolating the city for the use of pedestrians. The campus was divided into four by its road system: To the north the main campus containing the schools, to the south sport facilities, to the west the Olympic Stadium, and to the east the dormitories. The buildings combined an international approach and local ornamentation in what was called Plastic Integration Movement. The residential components of the plan was never fully realized, and consequently few people ever lived here, instead they shuttled.
source: Keith L. Eggener, 'Settings for History and Oblivion in Modern Mexico', in: Jean-Francois Lejeune (ed.), Cruelty and Utopia: Cities and Landscapes of Latin America, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2003 ; Celia Ester Arredondo Zambrano, 'Modernity in Mexico: The Case of Ciudad Universitaria', in: Edward R. Burian (ed.), Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico, University of Texas Press, USA 1997
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