Vicente Guerrero Park

Horizons and duality: water, territory, city, and culture.

Mexicali was born from technological change, specifically through water management and industrial agriculture. As a border city, it has been integrated into the Californian economy and the urban layout of Calexico since its inception. This city is a product of the desert, the river, cotton, and industry; a dual, resilient, and multicultural identity that defines its urban fabric.

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The Vicente Guerrero Park project recognizes and amplifies this border condition. 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 divided into three key areas: the Central Park (cultural core), the North Park (physical intensity and urban sports), and the West Park (environmental value and ethnobotanical gardens).

Keywords

Innovation / Water Efficiency / Sustainable / Sociability

Awards

2026 Americas Awards

Scope

Master Plan / Urban Design / Landscape Architecture

Location

Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Details

Size: 95 ha
Year: 2025

Innovative elements in the landscape

Essence

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.

Territorial and Environmental Structure

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.

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 as Origin

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.

Three Vocations, One Single Park

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%): 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. Features the Great Lake with wetlands, an open-air amphitheater, the Sun Promenade (elevated lookout), a garden of the arts, and a food court.

Process

Through surveys conducted by Parques de México, we engaged with the citizens of Mexicali to understand their vision of the city, its identity, and its future.

The park is currently in construction.

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