Alan Alaniz

Alan Alaniz is an architect and historian from the Rio Grande Valley. As a Ph.D. candidate in History and Theory of Architecture at Yale, his research examines architecture’s role in shaping the political economy and diplomatic relations of the Mexico-United States borderlands in the twentieth century. His work interrogates the contested logics of urban development along the border and the shifting notions of space, state, and region formed by design professionals on either side of the international boundary. Alan has held teaching positions at the University of Cincinnati, Yale University, and Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts – Design from University of Notre Dame and a Master of Architecture from University of Cincinnati.

Project Summary

“It can be done… amigo: Visions and Configurations of Transborder Urbanism, 1945-1995”

The focus of this dissertation concerns urban development on the Mexico-United States border, evaluating the underlying spatial logics of binational urban agglomerations and the design professionals – architects, engineers, and urban planners – who shaped their associated material and discursive landscapes. Between 1945 and 1995, border cities provided these professions an unparalleled opportunity to conceptualize and deploy new models of regional development and economic revitalization, intended to transform the borderlands from a set of “peripheral” communities disaggregated from either nation’s political sphere into a bustling network of international industry and culture. This project traces the mutually constitutive evolutions that occurred in the cities straddling the international boundary from the mid to late twentieth century – the first being the ascendant nature of the design professions as they established themselves within processes of nation building and an expanding international network of managerial expertise; and secondly, the shifting dynamics of border city urbanization that come to reflect the aspirations, deficiencies, and ultimately disjuncture between two neighboring nations. This research examines the twentieth century border city as a spatial phenomenon that exemplifies the inherent dialectical relationships of transborder communities and the design profession’s attempts at navigating pressures from regional business leaders, local politicians, and governmental institutions to resolve the contradictions of international capitalist development.

Research Area Keywords

Borderlands, Political Economy, Developmentalism, International Relations, Neoliberalism, Latin America