Chinampa System Research Articles

Gastronomic Sustainable Tourism and Social Change in World Heritage Sites. The Enhancement of the Local Agroecological Products in the Chinampas of Xochimilco (Mexico City)

In the Xochimilco area, within the urban perimeter of Mexico City, a unique ancestral agri-food production system persists: the chinampa system, also called chinampería. The chinampa agri-food production is a World Heritage inscribed by UNESCO and contributes to the sustainability of both the peri-urban wetland and the city. In addition, the Xochimilco area is also one of the most important domestic tourist destinations in Mexico City. The current situation of Xochimilco struggles between two core economic activities: agriculture and tourism. Although both activities contribute significantly to the development of the area, both have been noted as systematically damaging the local environment. However, emerging agriculture practices through agroecological production seem to have a positive impact in terms of better tourism praxis where the gastronomy of chinampero product plays a pivotal role. In this article, we will analyze the role of tourism in the area as a massive distorting and contaminant activity, but also from the positive perception and the possibilities of gastronomic tourism as a new responsible modality of tourism linked to sustainability and the mise en valeur of the chinampa agroecological products.

The survival of agriculture on the edge: Perceptions of push and pull factors for the persistence of the ancient chinampas of Xochimilco, Mexico City

A mixture of identities, livelihoods and a heterogeneous landscape characterizes the communities located in the rural-urban frontier. The perception of the inhabitants of these communities regarding environmental and sociocultural change is linked to their livelihoods and land use decisions. We use the case study of the ancient agricultural chinampa system in the Xochimilco wetland of Mexico City to understand the main threats and opportunities for peri-urban agriculture in megacities, where the rapid displacement of agricultural land by formal and informal settlements makes its future uncertain. We used a household survey and semi-structured interviews to understand: 1) the relationship between agriculture and informal urbanization, and 2) the perception of chinampa users, considering those who are engaged in agriculture and those who are not, regarding the factors that favor or limit agriculture. The information from interviews was coded and conceptualized as pull and push factors for peri-urban agriculture. Sociocultural factors were mentioned as the main reasons that push chinampas into agriculture abandonment, such as community erosion due to conflicts and lack of interest from younger generations. However, those that continue to engage in agriculture maintain a historical connection to farming (whether they are from the region or not), and a willingness to adapt to maintain their agricultural livelihood. We find that while some families abandon their agricultural land, new niches become available for migrants from other surrounding rural areas who find opportunities to continue farming in the peri-urban frontier. Our evidence suggests that the loss of peri-urban agriculture is not a linear process towards urbanization, and that the coexistence of housing, agriculture, and livelihood diversification can produce the conditions needed for innovation to encourage peri-urban agriculture.

Assessing the historical adaptive cycles of an urban social-ecological system and its potential future resilience: the case of Xochimilco, Mexico City

As the bulk of the world’s population becomes urban, maintaining urban ecosystem services for environmental and social well-being in cities is crucial. According to resilience theory, maintaining such services requires for a complex adaptive systems perspective that helps in identifying key elements and dynamics behind cross-scale social-ecological interactions. In this context, the objective of this article is to use a resilience “lens” to problematize the imminent loss of an urban wetland using the adaptive cycle model as a heuristic tool. Our case study focuses on the Xochimilco wetland, located in the southern periphery of Mexico City. Xochimilco is characterized by the presence of a complex system of raised bed wetland agriculture (the chinampa system), which was established over 1000 years ago; currently, despite having a recognized cultural and environmental value, it is threatened by increasing urban sprawl, over-exploitation of the aquifer, and water contamination. By conducting a historical analysis of the Xochimilco social-ecological system, we assess how it has gone through phases of the adaptive cycle. As a result, we identify critical elements of the system’s historically maintained resilience and main drivers of system change. From such findings, we present some insights on the possibilities of maintaining the system’s resilience and guidance for future management strategies for the Xochimilco wetland. Lastly, we reflect on the scope and limitations of using a resilience-based approach and an adaptive cycle analysis for addressing urban sustainability problems, especially in cities in the Global South.

Chinampas: An Urban Farming Model of the Aztecs and a Potential Solution for Modern Megalopolis

Urban horticulture is not as new as many people think. Throughout history, different techniques have been used to ensure sustainable urban agricultural production. A good example of this is the chinampa system, which was developed during the time of the Aztecs in the region of Lake Xochimilco, south of Mexico City. A chinampa is a raised field on a small artificial island on a freshwater lake surrounded by canals and ditches. Farmers use local vegetation and mud to construct chinampas. Fences made of a native willow [bonpland willow (Salix bonplandiana)] protect the chinampa from wind, pests, and erosion. The dominating crops are vegetables and ornamentals. The canal water that rises through capillarity to the crops reduces the need for additional irrigation. A considerable portion of the fertility in the soils is system-immanent and generated in the aquatic components of the chinampa. Complex rotations and associations allow up to seven harvests per year. Chinampas also provide ecosystem services, particularly greenhouse gas sequestration and biodiversity diversification, and they offer high recreational potential. Recently, research and community initiatives have been performed to try to recover the productive potential of chinampas and align this sustainable system with the needs of the 21st century. In other parts of the world, some with a history of raised field agriculture, similar efforts are being made. The chinampa model could help supply food and ecosystem services in large cities on or near swamplands, large rivers, or lakes.

The Chinampa: An Ancient Mexican Sub‐Irrigation System

AbstractThe Chinampa is an agro‐hydrological system practised for many generations, built over shallow lacustrine wetland areas near Mexico City. It was developed by the Aztecs, a pre‐Hispanic culture who settled around the lake in the old Tenochtitlan, ancient capital of the Mexican empire. The Chinampa design takes advantage of local environmental and soil conditions. Nowadays, some are still used by local producers and it is one of the few pre‐Hispanic irrigation structures that have been preserved and that operate as originally designed, with increasing value, because of its sustainability. The Chinampa consists of several layers of vegetation and sludge to produce an organic soil 50 cm above the water level for agricultural use in wetlands. These rectangular plots, surrounded by water, are 5–10 m wide by 50–100 m long. When a significant number of Chinampas are built, they make a network of canals among Chinampas, and broader canals provide navigation routes. The Chinampa is secured on the edges by trees whose roots hold the soil. These agricultural structures have provided many benefits for the inhabitants in the water system of the area, not only productive, but also economic, environmental, cultural and social. In December 1984, the Chinampa system in the Valley of Mexico was declared to be Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO; in 1992, the Mexican government declared the zone a ‘Natural Protected Area’; and in 2004, the wetlands that support the Chinampa were also declared a RAMSAR site. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The chronology and collapse of pre-Aztec raised field (chinampa) agriculture in the northern Basin of Mexico

Raised field agriculture in the Basin of Mexico was a highly sustainable farming method that did not depend upon centralised political control. Study of thechinampasystem around the Early and Middle Postclassic city of Xaltocan through a combination of remote sensing, GIS, targeted excavation and AMS dating has revealed an extensive area of raised fields that was abandoned when Xaltocan was conquered by an alliance of powerful neighbours during the fourteenth century AD. The rise and abandonment of the chinampa system were thus directly linked to the political economy of the city-state. The failure to revive the raised field systems in the following Aztec period can also be attributed to the impact of political, economic and ecological factors.

Mapping ancient chinampa landscapes in the Basin of Mexico: a remote sensing and GIS approach

This paper uses remote sensing data to document a raised field, chinampa system adjacent to the Postclassic kingdom of Xaltocan in the northern Basin of Mexico. Various forms of landscape information; historic records and maps as well as remote sensing; are considered to understand the chinampa system. The remote sensing data examined include 1950s aerial photographs, Landsat 7 data, and Quickbird VHR, multi-spectral imagery. This article evaluates the utility of each of these forms of data to identify buried chinampa features and integrates them in a GIS to produce a map of Xaltocan's chinampa landscape. Canals of various sizes and hydrological positions comprised the chinampas and integrated the system together. Occupying at least 1500–2000 ha, Xaltocan's chinampa system represents the largest pre-Aztec, chinampa system in the Basin of Mexico.

Prosperity, power, and change: Modeling maize at Postclassic Xaltocan, Mexico

Documenting the relationship between agriculture and political economy occupies the center of much research and debate in anthropological archaeology. This study examines this issue by focusing on maize at Xaltocan, a Postclassic community located in the northern Basin of Mexico. We consider how different mechanisms of distribution, circulation, and production can influence maize variation. We analyze maize variability through time at Xaltocan and the community’s chinampa system and interpret patterns of variation in relation to its historical trajectory. This methodological and interpretive approach offers an innovative means to understand how agricultural practices transformed in relation to changing conditions of prosperity and power, especially the links between tribute, market exchange, conflict, and regional demography. Our study also speaks to broader, dichotomous perspectives that model the organization of agricultural systems, revealing that the strategies of both agriculturalists and the state often converge at local levels.

An essay on energetics: the construction of the Aztec chinampa system

The authors describe an ingenious Aztec form of irrigated field system and assess its costs and benefits. Swamps were reclaimed by digging channels by hand and the excavated soil used to construct embanked fields (chinampas). The banks were anchored by planted trees and the trees, the crops and the water channels created a sheltered space which itself raised the temperature and increased productivity. The construction of the whole system took 25 million person-days spread over 40 years. In their study of the energetics of construction, the authors show that this project, forced on the local community, was within their capacity and comparable to the labour expended on the production of cloth.

Urban sustainable agriculture: The paradox of the chinampa system in Mexico City

Although the chinampa agriculture in Mexico City is considered an historical sustainable farming system,there have been few studies on its current status. This paper assesses the relationship between agroecological factors and socioeconomic strategies by analyzing urban forces, regional employment, and environmental concerns. Despite ecological deterioration caused by the urban expansion of Mexico City, the economic viability of this agricultural system is still based on the efficient use of farming technologies and resources management strategies that tend to maintain levels of productivity in horticulture and floriculture. The chinampa agriculture generates high income and employment for families and other local residents. This agroecosystem depends on the relationship between the economic priorities and agricultural criteria of farmers. We suggest that urban development, economic growth, and resource management in the chinampa region of Mexico City coincide with ecosystem processes, biological human needs, agronomic productivity, economic viability, and sociocultural values. By evaluating these factors, we provide some useful insights on the importance of this traditional agriculture within a sustainable development context.

Suppression of damping-off caused by Pythium spp in soil from the indigenous mexican chinampa agricultural system

Soil from the traditional chinampa agroecosystem in the Valley of Mexico was compared to soil from a nearby modem agroecosystem in Chapingo. Several soil physical, chemical and biological features were monitored during an 8-month study. Damping-off caused by natural populations of Pythium spp was less in soils from the chinampa system than in soils under the modern system of cultivation. Disease caused by introduced inoculum of P. aphanidermatum was also suppressed in the chinampa agriculture soil. Biological factors associated with disease suppression in the traditional system were an increased amount of biological activity (measured by soil dehydrogenase activity), reduced rate of germination of P. aphanidermatum oospores, and elevated populations of Pseudomonas spp and saprophytic Fusarium spp. Physicochemical factors associated with suppression included lower pH values, and higher organic matter, Ca, K and Mg contents. Dynamic biological processes in the traditional agroecosystem may be responsible for the suppression of the pathogen, P. aphanidermatum, through increased biological activity brought about by the high content of organic matter and elevated mineral nutrient status of the soils.

Vegetation and man in the Basin of Mexico

The Basin of Mexico (Fig. 1) lies at an elevation of about 2,000 m. Surrounded by mountains on the east, south and west, it receives drainage from all directions, but drainage from the north is less. As a consequence of continued input and no outlet from the Basin, water accumulated in the past in the valley to form 5 large, shallow lakes during the dry seasons. During the period of historical observation, these at least partially coalesced, particularly during heavy rainy seasons. Generally, the level of the lakes at the time of Spanish Conquest is stated to have been 2,240 m. In the historic period, a drain was opened to the north to reduce the lakes to their present condition. Colonial period accounts (Rojas et al., 1974) indicate that various causeways constructed prehistorically were still functional in providing overwater access to Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) and in separating the waters of Lake Texcoco (Fig. 1) into an eastern saline body and a western fresh water area as well as separating lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. Fresh water from the mountains to the west and south provided a flow which made possible the utilization of the lake water for intensive farming with the development of the unique chinampa system (Armillas, 1971). The lakes of the Basin of Mexico made the area very attractive to prehistoric people who found game animals plentiful and useful plants from a number of different associations within easy reach (Lorenzo et al., 1975). With development of cultivation, undoubtedly around the margins of the lakes initially, the Basin became the site of one of the earliest urban populations in the Americas. However, in order to understand the development of a burgeoning population it is necessary to provide the biological background in which this developed.

WATER PROBLEMS AND DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PAST1

ABSTRACTPresent‐day climatic conditions of the Earth were reached between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago. These are essentially the conditions under which the earliest civilizations arose. Ancient basic water problems were the same as those of today, and remarkable technologies for coping with these problems were developed. Few water technologies, except for water treatment, are modern creations.Dry farming began about 8000 B.C. Irrigation began about 5000 B.C. and became extensive by about 3500 B.C., principally in Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley of Egypt, and the Indus Valley of Pakistan. Ancient irrigators developed ingenious structures for obtaining groundwater without the use of wells or sweeps. One device, the Khanat (a kind of infiltration gallery), is still widely used in the Mediterranean area, southwest Asia and China. The khanat was invented during the First Millenium B.C.Ancient peoples also learned to collect surface runoff in areas of scanty precipitation and to use it for local groundwater recharge. The water was recovered from dug wells and used for domestic supply and stock watering.Damming of rivers began at least by the early part of the First Millenium B.C. in the Arabian Peninsula. Most early dams were for irrigation but some were also for city water supply. Many canals in various areas served the dual purposes of water supply and navigation.Soil and water salinity have been persistent problems throughout the history of irrigation and we still have not solved these problems.Irrigation practices were developed independently in the New World but much later than in the Old. North American Indians in some areas still follow the ancient practices. The chinampa system, still used in Mexico, is one of the most intensive methods of farming ever devised.Ancient peoples in the Old World also developed ingenious methods for conserving and increasing soil moisture and for retarding runoff and erosion.During the time of classical Greece and imperial Rome practical water engineering developed to a high degree. Water tunnels, aqueducts, canals, drainage ditches, and dams become commonplace. Even so, water supply and management came relatively late in Europe, where dependence had been largely on natural supply and distribution until the 19th Century.