The Heads on Fire Community

Laureles Canyon (http://seniorsequence.net/sr/gcrt/gc_detail.php?gcid=24)

- Laureles Canyon has become a living urban laboratory for innovative solutions

- Only covers a few square miles

- A virtual microcosm of the city of Tijuana and the issues impacting the Tijuana River

watershed

-Paved areas with basic infastructure, homes built with conventional construction next to a mix of semi-developed areas and irregular settlements with no electricity or running water

- Consists of legal residents that work in San Diego and live there and people who have the lowest wages in the maquiladora industry

- Contaminants in the watershed of Laureles canyon drain into the Pacific Ocean and effect the Laureles Canyon residents and the Tijuana River Estuary Nature Preserve and communities along the coast

- Problems of the Laureles Canyon watershed:

-rapid increase in impermeable surface and unvegetated land cover

-loss of habitats and native plant species

-soil erosion and sedimentation of water courses and canals

-landslides

-accumalation of trash and toxic wastes and sewage discharges

- Problems that caused this mess have to do with the lack of infastructure and unplanned development of the region

- Other problems causing it are the practices of the residents there particulary in the newly settled sub watershed

- Half of the world's population lives in cities (approximately 6.6 billion people)

- These cities include and estimated 50,000 settlements with a minimum of 50,00 residents

- Some of the most rapidly growing urban areas of the world are slums or irregular settlements found in poor countries, where majority of future population growth will take place

- Growth along the border reflects this type of urbanization

- The population growth along the U.S. Mexico border has lead to unplaneed development, inadequate infastructure and the degradation of ecosytems, natural resources and public health

- Infastructure on the mexican side of the border is responsible for solid waste and wastewater issues that contribute to the presence of toxicants in the border enviornment

http://seniorsequence.net/sr/gcrt/gc_detail.php?gcid=24

"Planning for sutainable human settlements"