El capitalismo como urbanizador de la frontera: historia y revalorización de los primeros trazados industriales de Mexicali y Calexico

Abstract

This article tries to approach the urban origin of the cities of Mexicali and Calexico located in the border they share between Mexico and the United States on the geographical beginning of the peninsula of Baja California. The city of Mexicali in the mexican side was in its beginnings better connected to the United States instead of Mexico. The original urban grids that the companies develop arrive with the railroad and the complex systems of irrigation from the Colorado River, this started the urban growth: in the US, the Imperial Valley and the Mexicali Valley in Mexico. We put special interest in the first industrial buildings in the city center defending the hypothesis that the industrial heritage can be important in the transformation of the city based on their identity.