Rainfall Buries a Mega-Airport in Mexico

The Lake Texcoco Ecological Park in Mexico, opened two years ago and spanning 55 square miles, is one of the world’s largest urban parks but faces significant challenges including limited accessibility, squatter settlements, and ongoing land compensation disputes related to the canceled New Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) project. The airport, which was under construction on the site until its cancellation in 2018 by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had caused substantial environmental damage, including destruction of migratory bird habitats, deforestation, and alteration of indigenous cultural landscapes. The park’s director, architect Iñaki Echeverría, acknowledges the difficulties but emphasizes the project’s goal to restore the ecosystem and demonstrate the viability of large-scale environmental restoration despite budget and legal constraints. The park’s restoration is the result of nearly a century of visions and plans to rehabilitate Lake Texcoco, which had lost over 95% of its original surface area due to centuries of drainage beginning with the Aztec