The Brave New Cool

Marked by revolutions, Mexico City emerged stronger after each upheaval. Michael Snyder heads down its network of neighbourhoods that speak volumes not just about its rich heritage but also its stature as a bold centre of the modern world

- Michael Snyder

Growing up in the US in the 1990s, allIknew about the destination was smog and sprawl — features I principally associated with Los Angeles, that beast of a city over on the other coast. it was not, as far asIknew in those days, a place you’d want to go. it was huge but un-urban, blighted by pollution and violence, impressive in its sheer bigness but not a whole lot else. Cut to 2017 and Mexico City has developed an entirely different reputation as an international capital for food and art, as the next coolest city in the world. You may have heard it being referred to as ‘the new Berlin.’

You could be forgiven for believing that the metropolis has experienced some sort of evolutionary spring forward in terms of net hipness. But, as I discovered shortly after moving here last year, walking through the city’s complex network of neighbourhoods reveals artistic and cultural achievement that predates the arrival of the Spanish in the 15th century, a city of revolutions and rebellions; one that has absorbed more than its share of destruction and always come out stronger. The story is inscribed in its aztec foundations, tilting colonial churches, and colossal modernist monuments. Mexico City is not the new anything: it has always been a place of explosive dynamism and violent creativity.