Santa Fe CDMX Tour - Art Scenes

CDMX

Santa Fe

In the 80s the government of Mexico City closed down the trash landfill of Santa Fe and created a new urban development on top of it with the university Ibero opening up in 1988, the Santa Fe Mall in 1993, and Televisa in 1998; starting the process of gentrification of one of the most neglected zones of the city — and you can feel the contrast of lifestyles for a day.

Time period: 1980-now

Movie/book: Amarte Duele (2002)/Vogue or GQ México magazines

Soundtrack: Belanova/Moenia’s music

Fashion: cold colors, graphic t shirt, plus statement sunglasses

Budget:

Maps Illustrated: Vogue Fashion Night Out CDMX; London, 2011

This tour would take through the modern side of Santa Fe: where corporations have open up their headquarters in recent decades and where luxury condominiums have been built for the new rich. The area is characterized by contemporary architecture, highways and hillsides. The iconic movie Amarte Duele (a love story in between a fresa and a cholo that ends tragically) was filmed in the Santa Fe Mall and reflects on the contrast of life styles between the privileged and the marginalized. The Mexican social mobility of the Porfiriato/Mexican Miracle died after the devaluation of the Mexican peso throughout the 80s; meaning if you are born poor you stay poor, but if you are born rich you stay pretty much rich. The government (controlled by the CIA) orchestrated the sellout of the national companies creating the current Mexican Oligarch class plus the development of the Mexican Mafia (influenced by the DEA); creating one of the most violent, unequal, corrupted societies in the world with the upper 10% holding 80% of the wealth of the nation. This inequality is pretty visible in Santa Fe, a gentrified slum close by Las Lomas that has become the most futuristic part of the city. It all began in the 80s when the landfill that used to be here got close due to contamination problems, and the idea was to “simply build a modern business district on top of it” and it worked! First the urban planners brought the nepo-babies into the zone by opening the Ibero University, and latter the Mexican celebrities when Televisa opened its studios at the end of the 90s. Since then different corporate buildings have been built with iconic futuristic designs like: Torres Arcos Bosques known as El Pantalón (the pants) or the Calakmul Corporate Building known as La Licuadora (the washing machine) due to their unusual shapes. The corporations and the Santa Fe Mall brought a lot of jobs to the neighborhood creating a “new rich class” which increased the demand for new luxury apartments culminitating in the construction boom throughout the 2010s. Today Santa Fe is one of the most expensive zones in the city with everything you need in a short drive or a tiring walk; the area is uphill surrounded by cliffs with some of the most poor neighborhoods of the city around it. The future of this business district is uncertain as the area runs out of space and permits to built next to cliffs in a seismic zone have been more strict. The tour suggest visiting 3 buildings known for its futuristic architecture in the morning; eating tacos, a walking tour plus a park in the afternoon; and to end the day shopping plus dinning in the Centro Comercial Santa Fe.