Historical and Heritage Valuation of Embryonic Cities: The Case of Mexicali, Mexico

Given that many of the recently created cities have undergone a process of accelerated growth and maturation that, in some cases, has not allowed adequate documentation, which, in turn, has caused basic elements of their evolution to be lost; The work presented here has the objec­tive of elaborating a theoretical research framework based on the bibliographic review of the urban-architectural development of the historical picture of one of these embryonic cities: Mexicali, Mexico, which is made up of three sectors that, in turn, they represent the very structure of the urban area; that is, to the center, mixed activities, to east, residential housing, and to west, popular settlements. This approach is intended to expose the fundamental aspects that characterized this founding center, understand both its changes and its deterioration and identify the potential for its historical and patrimonial valuation.