Wrap up of our GSP Program 2024: Insights from the Concluding Session

In December 2024, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through its Landscape Architecture program, hosted the Global Studio Program's virtual charrette in collaboration with the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Universidad de Guanajuato, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, and ITESO Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara.

This was the first time these Mexican universities worked together on a landscape architecture project, representing a significant opportunity to highlight some of the realities of the Global South. It was also the first collaborative activity among these landscape architecture programs in Mexico following the Latin American Landscape Architecture Education Encounter in Buenos Aires in May 2024.

The theme for this chapter was a landscape intervention design in Tepoztlán, a town in central Mexico renowned for its cultural and natural heritage. The charm of this place lies in its magnificent mountains, the archaeological site featuring a pyramid atop the Tepozteco mountain, a stream that runs through the town, and the many cultural expressions that define the community’s identity. These elements attract significant local tourism, leading to the overuse of the few existing open spaces.

Eight teams of international and national students worked with tutors before the charrette (December and January), participating in lectures, brainstorming conceptual ideas, and finally engaging in the charrette itself from 13-16 January 2025.

Some of the key challenges addressed in this landscape architecture project included preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the site—considering its mountains, rivers, pyramids, churches, and markets—while integrating day-to-day human activities that bring this place to life.

This charrette marked the final chapter of the 2024 edition of the Global Studio Program.