What does it mean to be "mexicalense"?

The people:
Multicultural, hardworking, persevering, resilient, warm, open, supportive, and proud. To be Chicali / Cachanilla is to be diverse, welcoming, and forward-looking.

The city:
Border-based, dual, independent, agro-industrial, challenging, dynamic, urban, resilient, and international.

Internal Permeability:
Agricultural Grid + North-South Urban Layout / Mexicali–Calexico: Connectivity through canals, windbreaks, shade, and permaculture principles.
Agricultural and Californian Heritage as the foundation of spatial organization.

Green System:
Protection of natural runoff, stormwater management, groundwater recharge, detention, and infiltration.
Promotion of native habitats and passive recreation.

Key Environmental Data:
Permeable Surface: 61,872 m²
Rain Gardens / Temporary Wetlands
Existing Valued Trees: ≈230
Proposed Trees (Native): ≈1,278

Water is the park’s umbilical cord

The Lake, the Colorado River, and the historical irrigation ditches (acequias) act as scars on the landscape, defining character, identity, life, and resilience.

Misting fountains, low-consumption systems, rails, ditches, and mobile furniture on tracks reinterpret the agro-industrial heritage through a contemporary lens.

The Vicente Guerrero Park project recognizes and amplifies this border condition through clear lines of identity: the Colorado River canals, the cotton fields, the railroad lines, and the agricultural grid. With over 75 years of tradition and located on the site of the city's first industry (La Jabonera, 1925), the park is conceived as a 90,000 m² living system that articulates landscape, memory, and infrastructure.

The program is organized into three interconnected zones with direct access to the City Theater, Sol del Niño Museum, and the historic center:

North Park – Physical Intensity (19.6%):
Sports activation featuring 7-a-side football, basketball, and padel courts, along with a skatepark, bouldering walls, and a parkour-BMX circuit.

West Park – Environmental Value (22.6%):
A recreational space with ethnobotanical gardens, a native plant nursery, Water Plaza, dog park, and accessible children’s playgrounds.

Central Park – The Valley (57.8%):
The cultural heart of the project. It features the Great Lake with wetlands, an open-air amphitheater, the Sun Promenade (elevated lookout), a garden of the arts, and a food court.