Merida builds up ‘without rhyme or reason,’ says visiting prof

Merida, Yucatan — Big cities with vision, such as Singapore and Vancouver, use zoning to regulate their high-rises. But Yucatan’s capital allows construction “without rhyme or reason,” said Dr. Alberto Ochoa Zezzatti, a professor at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, in Ciudad Juarez.

Ochoa Zezzatti was one of the participants in the fifth Ciencia de Clóset, organized by the Asociación Juvenil de Ciencia Yucatán, a science event at the Punto México Conectado school.

Trade winds and air flow should be taken into account when planning a city. Also, birds won’t be disoriented if high-rises aren’t built on all sides, he advised.

Tall buildings towering over small ones deprive residents of sun and air.

“In the long run, the people who live under the buildings will suffer the heat, the drought because it will not allow the trees to permeate the rain,” he said.

{ Related: 30 more high rises coming to Merida’s north }