Miracles, Now

Miracles, Now seeks opportunities of recovery and reinvention within the remains of urban and architectural projects constructed during the so-called Milagro Mexicano or “Mexican Miracle.” This exceptional period of sustained economic growth between the 1940s and 1970s spurred the formation of Mexico’s modern identity, one specifically produced and marketed for a global audience. Visionary as it was, the social and political limits of this centralized effort have been laid bare by the government mismanagement, privatization, and environmental disregard that have come to define urban development trends in the nation’s capital over the past four decades. As hundreds of abandoned, damaged, and at-risk projects from this era currently stand in question throughout Mexico City, an opportunity for the reassessment of national history and contemporary identity has emerged. Miracles, Now, a research and exhibition project for the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial, presents the legacy of Mexico’s 20th-century development as a starting point from which future scenarios for the built environment are generated.