Home > Uncategorized > 2026 MCI Symposium

2026 MCI Symposium

Promotional poster for 2026 MCI Symposium with event details. Background image of Mexico City skyline with mid-rise apartment buildings, dense tree canopy, and mountains in the distance

The 2026 Mexican Cities Initiative Symposium took place on Monday, April 13, bringing together research and design addressing Mexico’s urban and environmental futures. The program included opening remarks from DRCLAS Co-Chair and Faculty Committee on Mexico Diane Davis, along with Pablo Pérez Ramos, Laura Janka, and Lorena Bello Gómez, followed by presentations from the 2025 MCI Summer Fellows.

Audience members smiling and applauding during a symposium session
Attendees seated at a table examining archival textile and paper materials during a presentation
Romina and Savalee presenting up a woven textile for the audience while a video screen displays a close-up of hands working the fabric
Miriam and Gemrisha at a podium, Enrique holding a microphone, mid-conversation
Ceramic vessels displayed on a table with a presentation screen in the background
Speaker presenting at a podium beside a screen showing photographs
Speaker at a podium presenting a slide with photographs to a seated audience
Andrea at a podium with ceramic artifacts and printed materials laid out on a table
Speaker at a podium with ceramic artifacts and printed materials laid out on a table
Group of attendees seated together, laughing during a session
Two panelists seated at a table, Laura Janka speaking into a microphone
Panelists seated together smiling, with an event banner in the background"
Attendees seated at a table talking and laughing during the symposium
MCI Panelists standing and smiling in front of a Mexican Cities Initiative event poster
Presentation screen displaying the Mexican Cities Initiative 2026 Symposium title over a city skyline photo, with the audience seated in front
Lorena Bello Gomez speaking with Lys following the symposium
Andrea laughing with attendees following the event

The presentations examined how material practices and ecological systems organize territory, labor, and public life across multiple contexts. Projects explored textile production in Puebla and Oaxaca as a spatial system shaping domestic and urban environments through networks of labor and memory; the environmental and hydrological impacts of industrial pork production in the Yucatán Peninsula, with a focus on aquifers, cenotes, and water infrastructure; and clay as a design medium connecting craft, construction, and urban development across Oaxaca, Saltillo, and Mexico City. The evening concluded with a panel discussion engaging the fellows’ research and broader questions surrounding Mexico’s urban and environmental futures.