Hyperborder: The Contemporary U.S.–Mexico Border and Its Future

by Fernando Romero

Roving vigilantes, fear-mongering politicians, hysterical pundits, and the looming shadow of a seven hundred-mile-long the US–Mexican border is one of the most complex and dynamic areas on the planet today. Hyperborder provides the most nuanced portrait yet of this dynamic region. Author Fernando Romero presents a multidisciplinary perspective informed by interviews with numerous academics, researchers, and organizations. Provocatively designed in the style of other kinetic large-scale studies like Rem Koolhaas's Content and Bruce Mau’s Massive Change, Hyperborder is an exhaustively researched report from the front lines of the border debate.

Genres: Nonfiction

317 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2007

Reviews

[Steev Hise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really well-done, comprehensive volume, and it's beautifully designed, having been created by a Mexican architect and his architectural firm. Despite its creative and arty appearance, the book is also packed with statistics and background information on every topic one could imagine that relates to immigration and the border, from climate change to urban sewage, trade policy and drug violence. In fact, the read can be somewhat dry and academic at times, but the factual material is broken up by a variety of capsule future scenarios relevant to each topic area and the hyperborder. These range from the dramatic, such as Phoenix getting nuked by terrorists to the banal, like bi-national health insurance cards or increased elderly gringo retirement to Mexico.

It certainly provokes the imagination while also providing valuable reference data for anyone interested in border-related trends, although those who have already been studying and thinking about this stuff may find it to be a lot of review; but one important thing I noticed as I finished up the book after nearly a year of being half-done with it is that it definitely shows its publishing date, which is 2008, just before the worldwide financial crash of that year. Many of the future scenarios and their dates seem no longer as plausible now that we've seen a massive global economic partial-collapse and are much more aware of what a house of cards the global economy is, as well the other 2 looming global catastrophes, peak oil and global climate change chaos. In light of these gloomy storms ahead, some predictions are hard to swallow, at least without modifying their dates to be much sooner (for instance, 2025: "Mexico becomes major exporter of carbon credits"; 2040: "As more countries change their reserves to Yuan, the ultra-rich device ways to open bank accounts in China"). Others seem quite on-target (2015: "Bikes in short supply as gas reaches $10 per gallon"). Of course future history is always a tricky business, but it's nice to see somebody tackling these ideas, especially with lots of hard, reality-based numbers to provide background for the predictions.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

bordersbordersborders
mexicomexicomexico

[Suvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

English Translation Studies
I've been interested in the issues of the U.S.-Mexico border for a while now, so when I took the International Affairs -course in university and got the chance to choose this as the topic for my essay, I was quite excited. Unfortunately, I kind of postponed the writing process due to lack of time so I'm not able to really dive into this as I'd like to, but this book is a huge help since it explains everything really clearly. I just wish I had a paper copy instead of the uni's e-book, because this seems to be visually fantastic.

[VEEP · Rating 5 out of 5]

the need for a knowledge-based economy is necessary; our notions about borders (as individuals, as "citizens" and as global residents) needs to change or else we are all going to plunder. local interdependence requires that communities must connect directly to their global community.

check out: www.citiesofglobalcommerce.com

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of awesome. really graphic and easy to read which is cool. not full of academic-like text.