Critical Mass Books

Alejandro Cartagena photographs the particularities of the suburbs of Monterrey, Mexico, which are relatively new and often hastily built, reflecting a general disregard for planning. Over the years, various governmental policies resulted in new, decentralized cities with limited infrastructures where the pursuit of immediate financial gain trumped any interest in sustainability. Cartagena captures both the destruction that rapid urbanization has imposed on the landscape and the phenomenon of densely packed housing…

Ultimately Cartagena documents the chaos and destruction that result from scant or misguided urban planning. Understanding that overdevelopment is not just a local problem, he works hard as an artist to share his photographs as one clear plea for responsible, sustainable development in a rapidly changing world.

Hardbound, 108 pages, 36 color photographs. Introduction by Karen Irvine, Essay by Gerardo Montie Klint, Interview by Lisa Uddin.