a french company town in baja california desert: compagnie du boleo, santa rosalía 1885

This article focuses on the urban and architectural scope of foreign investment in the peninsula of Baja California in Mexico and strengthens the idea of modernization in an inhospitable territory rich in mineral resources. Here we analyze the construction of a city that develops into a new kind of urbanism and industry by concentrating raw material, labor, and finished products for export. The consolidation of the mining company leads to the foundation of a new city: Santa Rosalía, whose urban development follows a common pattern based on the direct connection between residence and work. Santa Rosalía shows a clear social segregation with difficult working conditions, which were characteristic of the industrial revolution in the country. In the mid-twentieth century, the city is at its economic peak, but mineral depletions start appearing in the most productive mines and the population systems. The entrance to the post-industrial period, the company's bankruptcy, and its abandonment call for an urban regeneration from economic decline in order to acknowledge and recover valuable industrial heritage that still exists yet is currently in decay.