The city of Ecaptepec (pop: 1.7 million), located 25km northeast of Mexico City, will soon be home to one of the world’s most visually spectacular urban gondola systems.
The ropeway, known as the Mexicable, has hired 70+ local and international designers to create colour displays of artwork along the 5km cable car route.
This urban art project, known as The Street is Yours (Spanish: Ecatepec La calle es tuya), hopes the newly painted public murals will build pride amongst locals and help them reclaim the streets from violence that has historically plagued the community.
The formation of this “Cultural Corridor” is also intended to attract more businesses and tourists to the area, thereby generating more economic activity.
If this sounds somewhat familiar, there is a good chance Mexicables has taken its inspiration from the Medellin Metrocables where crime was dramatically reduced after major public investments were made in the disadvantaged barrios.
While it’s too early to tell if the cable cars and artwork will bring about long-lasting positive changes to Ecatepec, the Mexicables will undoubtably be a fascinating story to follow for those interested in urban issues.
The system is scheduled to open to the public in October 2016 and expected to benefit up to 300,000 residents.
#mexicable A photo posted by Fernando Zicodelico (@fernandozicode) on
Crawling King Snake #painting #ropeways #mexicable #ecatepunk #apofismediaeverywhere A photo posted by Jorge Estrada (@apofis_media) on
For more photos, check out this Instagram feed, or visit the art project’s official page.