The defensive works against floods in Mexico’s northern border: evolution of a public works branch (1879-1944)

This article examines public works projects for flood control conducted between the decades of 1870 and 1940 in Mexico’s Northern Border. Using primary sources it demonstrates technician’s pragmatic and versatile approach —in Nogales (Sonora), Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua) and Bajo Rio Bravo (Tamaulipas)—, performing a range of jobs including hydraulic works, architectural programs and projects, and also rudimentary applied urban planning. An institutional analysis reveals how the transition from ideas of material betterment to the paradigm of public works, and its variegated definition, occurred amidst a dispute between occupational fields and a heterogeneous technical bureaucracy.