Walls are the wrong architectural response to mass migration and violence in border cities, says Mexican architect Gabriela Carrillo in this interview.
"[Migrants] are running away from very complex issues in the places where they are from," Royal Academy Dorfman Prize 2023 winner Carrillo told Dezeen.
"We believe that this phenomenon has an impact on the cities and the architecture and the way it is inhabited."
"There should be resources that can ease the flood of people that are part of our world today ? not only in Mexico but everywhere."
Gabriela Carrillo is part of the architectural group Colectivo C733. Photo by Rafael Gamo
Infrastructure and social services in North American border cities are coming under continued pressure amid a marked rise in migration, particularly from Mexico into the US, with nearly 2.5 million people attempting to make the crossing in 2023. Carrillo said Mexicans are increasingly fleeing "the humanitarian crisis of natural disasters and forced displacements due to violence".
Many of the migrants attempting to cross into the US are from countries other than Mexico, and often end up stuck and destitute in Mexican border cities after being turned away by American security forces.
Migration "like a flood"
Carrillo argued that changing government policies, especially former US president Donald Trump's infamous wall, have not only exacerbated the difficulties facing Mexican border cities but fundamen...