Murmuring River: Revealing Cupatitzio’s Hidden Water Sanctuaries

Abstract

Murmuring River, Revealing Cupatitzio’s Hidden Water Sanctuaries explores how to design an intervention for water commons in Uruapan, Mexico—one of the world’s most violent cities, where over 90% of residents feel unsafe due to organized crime. Cartel violence, driven by control of the avocado industry, has led to illegal orchard expansion, replacing pine forests and reducing water infiltration, which threatens the city’s vital springs and the river itself. This thesis proposes designing common water spaces in “forgotten waters”—areas where the river’s presence is invisible, inaccessible, and endangered. Grounded in three design principles—reverence, ritual, and activation—these spaces aim to strengthen the rituals of local communities, practices that once helped indigenous populations overcome fear of Spanish colonizers and are still upheld today by their descendants. By making visible these endangered waters, the project seeks to transform urban landscapes into sanctuaries of hope.