The city had turned its back on the riverbank. Despite its potential to function as a vital public space, the area that lay between the Papaloapan River and the city limits of Tuxtepec — an industrial town in Oaxaca, Mexico — had become something of a liability. Locals largely avoided it; a nearby brewery’s operations had silted up the water, making it unnavigable, and informal settlements and merchants had cropped up on the unkempt land. Recent years had seen the local government make occasional efforts to draw families back to the green space — installing playgrounds, soccer fields and basketball courts — but these perfunctory measures inevitably fell short.
“The attempts to activate the area were unsuccessful because they were disjointed, rather than being part of a comprehensive plan,” explains Alejandro Polo Lamadrid, an architect and urban planner, and the founder of Mexico City–based studio Entorno y Contexto EC0. “It’s a beautiful landscape with an abundance of trees, but it wasn’t being taken advantage of.”
That all changed in 2020 when SEDATU — the federal Secretariat of Agrarian, Land and Urban Development — enlisted Polo Lamadrid to design the Papaloapan River Linear Park, spread across 4.5 kilometres of the riverbank. Just the year before, SEDATU had initiated the Urban Improvement Plan, which has since revitalized more than a thousand public spaces across the country, most of them in areas lacking infrastructure. It has done so through bold new architecture by the nation’s most renowned firms; these began with the Estación Tapachula in Chiapas by Colectivo C733 (which replaced a beloved train station destroyed by Hurricane Stan in 2005) and culminated in more recently inaugurated works like the Community Development Centre in Tabasco by Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica (CCA).
When it came to the Papaloapan River Linear Park brief, government authorities’ understanding of the population’s needs and desires may have been just as noble, but they were largely intuitive and relied on general assumptions rather than direct engagement. Recognizing the importance of a methodical approach to the park program, Polo Lamadrid and his team conducted their own study.
They created an inventory of the existing infrastructure, mapping out the possible routes and patterns of movement within the area, and, through community outreach, built a solid sense of who the rejuvenated park would serve. “The scale of this project makes it different from smaller neighbourhood parks,” Polo Lamadrid explains, adding that, ideally, the park would be visited by people from both near and far. This called for a deep understanding of Tuxtepec’s society. “Which of their needs were covered, and which weren’t? What interested this specific community in terms of recreational, cultural and physical activities?”
A group of runners, for instance, wanted an all-weather track, while soccer enthusiasts asked for natural grass pitches. Skateboarders and bicyclists requested their own spaces, and families hoped for shaded playgrounds for
children of all ages. The research also identified the need for open-air
theatres that could host a variety of cultural events, as well as a boardwalk
to connect an array of spaces for leisure and contemplation of the lush
natural surroundings: As part of the revamp, some 11,350 square metres of the park were landscaped and reforested, and a preexisting municipal nursery was refurbished to add areas for visitors to observe the regional vegetation up close.
To accommodate all of these activities, the design team devised a plan that connects open and covered recreation and cultural structures via a network of concrete and stone-paved pathways. It designed four 420-square-metre buildings — sitting atop stilts so they don’t flood during the heavy wet season — that link the park to the street. Their material palette makes ample use of brick, concrete and steel painted a dark red that recalls other public projects around the city, rendering it instantly familiar to the residents of Tuxtepec. “We wanted to use this design language so the community could feel a sense of belonging,” Polo Lamadrid says. Standing in pleasant contrast to the abundant greenery, there’s a resounding simplicity and sense of cohesion to the architecture.
Three of the buildings shelter multi-use sports courts under their flat roofs (the skate park, meanwhile, features a dramatic concrete vault). In addition to bathrooms, changing rooms and seating areas, the buildings also incorporate commercial spaces, such as refreshment stands, that are rented out to aid the park’s self-financing model. (“When the city invests in a project of this scale,” Polo Lamadrid explains, “they solve one problem but create another: Future administrations inherit the ongoing expense to keep it in shape.”) Four grass soccer pitches; sandboxes furnished with amenities for exercise, play and parkour; and a 1.3-kilometre permeable running track round out the offerings.
By the end of 2023, and with the unveiling of each phase of construction, people began to flock to the resuscitated landscape. “The soccer fields are already in operation and a basketball league is coming,” the architect says, “and their tournaments now last into the night.” This is largely thanks to universal accessibility measures — including lighting, urban furniture and signage — devised in collaboration with the firm GIZ. The Papaloapan River Linear Park’s diverse attractions now cater to various interests and age groups, making it a place where all residents of Tuxtepec can come together.
Perhaps the most accomplished elements are the scenic views of the water from the buildings’ observation decks — reminders of this natural habitat’s integral significance to the town’s identity. “Indeed, our main intention,” explains Polo Lamadrid, “was to repair and recover the historical memory of the Papaloapan River and its relationship to the people of Tuxtepec.”
Revitalizing the once-neglected landscape of the Papaloapan River, the new linear park in Tuxtepec, Mexico, features a cohesive network of spaces and uses for play, sport and culture.