Professor John Lopez’s new book The Aquatic Metropolis: Urban Design and Environmental Change in Tenochtitlan-Mexico City (Penn State University Press) is a nuanced account of Mexico City’s urban development and Aztec and Spanish attempts to control its most iconic feature–water. The Aquatic Metropolis examines the complex intersections of visual cultures and philosophical worldviews about nature and cities and how the outcomes of these competing visions impact the city’s future.

Both the Aztec and the Spanish attemped to control catastrophic flooding in Tenochtitlan and later Mexico City. Their responses were about more than just engineering. Examing the art historical record as well as the histories of cartography, science, technology, and the environment, Professor Lopez exposes the differing epistemologies shaping Aztec and Spanish approaches to urban planning.  While the Aztecs used causeways to adapt the city to its aquatic environment, the Spanish employed European methods of hydraulic engineering to overcome New World nature. The Spanish drainage project served a two-fold purpose: it was a technical solution but also philosophical one: to secure a new historical genesis for Mexico City by rooting it in the history of European antiquity and classical architecture, and by emancipating it from Tenochtitlan’s most iconic feature—water.

Released May 2026 (hardcover: ISBN: 978-0-271-10041-8). Discount available for a limited time with code NR26.