flâneur

Engineers Don't Solve Problems

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What the story of Mexico City’s struggle to stay above water teaches us about engineering.

Engineers Don't Solve Problems Dean Chahim Mexico City’s long battle against flooding shows that engineering doesn’t solve problems. It transforms them. On July 15, 1951, like so many times before, Mexico City’s lakes returned with a vengeance. After heavy rains, the sewers overflowed onto the streets, eventually covering half the city in fetid water. Dramatic photos circulated in newspapers, showing men rowing boats across the city’s downtown streets. The flood paralyzed the capital for ten days and was a major embarrassment for the national government. The event was a spectacular technologic

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