Mexico's Ciudad Satelite was Conceived as an American Suburb

In the late fifties there was a water shortage in Mexico City, so efforts began to direct urban growth beyond the valley where the city was located. Mario Pani, an outstanding architectural and urban innovator, conceived "Ciudad Satelite," a new neighborhood designed to function as an independent town, connected to Mexico City by a freeway. 

A visit to Satelite today makes it clear that Pani's inspiration was the post-war American Suburb, with winding streets and houses with front and back yards--as opposed to the Cartesian street grid of traditional Mexican cities, and the preeminence of the enclosed central garden in Mexican architecture.

Another piece of evidence of what Pani envisioned for Satelite is the American-style shopping mall he designed as the new town's centerpiece--it was the first of its type in Mexico. This mall, on the freeway that communicates Satelite with Mexico City, was surrounded by a sizable parking lot. Architecturally, it was a box with no windows similar to those built in the United States during the fifties. (This building was later demolished, giving way to a much larger mall.)

In the end, Satelite did not turn out quite as Pani and its developers expected. Soon, it was swallowed by Mexico City and became just another urban neighborhood, with radical juxtapositions of use, and areas with high density and heavy traffic. What did remain of Pani's vision was a strong urban identity that is shared today by the people of Satelite.