espacio cero suggests an 'invisible wall' of industry for US-mexico border

designer and creative espacio cero has proposed a new and much more productive alternative to presidential candidate donald trump’s wall between mexico and the united states. as part of his campaign for the presidency, trump has outlined his intention to deport all illegal immigrants to their country of origin, going so far as to claim that a massive border wall will be constructed between the US and mexico, with the latter fronting the bill for the project.

the design suggests a variety of new uses for the border area

rather than build a wall, espacio cero would see a vast, interconnected economic community founded along the border, to celebrate and encourage exchange between the two countries rather than condemn it. entitled ‘the invisible wall’, cero’s proposal involves interconnecting the various sister cities along the border area through a web of transport links and industrial enterprises as well as public parks and recreation programs. ‘according to a U.S. ICE report each undocumented immigrant costs the american taxpayers $12,500. why not invest it in new legal jobs and facilities, as that is what immigrants want?’ questions the designer.

new roads and railways serve as connectors between the area’s sister cities

the ‘invisible wall’ plan suggests investing this money into a border-wide network of highways and train routes, encouraging transport of goods and services throughout the region. according to cero, approximately one-quarter of the population of the u.s. counties bordering mexico live at or below the poverty line, with unemployment rates in US border counties at 5.6 percent (compared to 4.7 percent in the rest of the country). mexican border states have an average poverty rate of 28 percent, significantly below the country’s national average of 37 percent. ‘if immigrant people have more life opportunities through all mexico’s territory, the wall becomes invisible’.

the proposal aims to encourage the transport of goods and services throughout the region

the project follows a series of architectural imaginings of what trump’s wall might look like, or how the idea of such a construct could be interpreted or reimagined. recently, mexico based estudio 3.14 visualized the wall in a series of dystopian renderings that displayed the gargantuan border — realized in vibrant pink — bisecting the hills and mountains of the border region (see previously). 

‘if immigrant people have more life opportunities through all mexico’s territory, the wall becomes invisible’

about 11.8 million people live in the U.S.-MEX border area 

trump has suggested a plan to deport all illegal immigrants to their country of origin

there is a 5.6% unemployment rates in u.s. border counties (compared to 4.7% in the rest of the country)

the proposal sees the idea of a wall re-interpreted into a number of industrius propositions

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: peter corboy | designboom