CPLN 7020

Healing Borders: Dominican Republic

This interdisciplinary studio between City Planning and Landscape Architecture students focused on addressing urban, ecological, economic, and social challenges in three towns located in the Dominican Republic along the border with Haiti. The DR-Haitian border stretches for 244 miles, following the Dajabón River in the North and the Pedernales River in the South. The selected sites for this interdisciplinary and intercultural studio were Pepillo Salcedo, Jimaní, and Pedernales, chosen by the Directorate for Border Area Development, Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development, Dominican Republic.

Students

Vyusti Agarwalla
Zahara Sumaira Ahmadi
Simran Arora
Myron Joel Bañez
Elliot Bullen
Kirstin Fisk Engelman
Carlos Andres Gonzalez Giraldo
Simon Zachary Gutkin
Azarai Hernandez
Kendra E. Hill
David Kim
Allison Michelle Lau
Jie Li
Aminah McNulty
Aidan Rhianne
Stephanie Onuaja
Jackson Plumlee
Katharine Sasha Poor
Itay Porat
Sanjana Purohit
Kemi Richards
Emma Rose Sonner
Jie Wang
Yan Wang
Yihan Zhang

The Plan focused on three towns at the border of the DR and Haiti - Pepillo Salcedo, Jimani, and Pedernales.
For over a century, Haiti has been burdened by colonial debts, political struggles, economic collapse, and natural disasters. Long-standing political and racial conflicts between the nations, rooted in the oppressive violence of colonial and authoritarian regimes, have been re-surfacing in the Dominican government’s response to Haitian migration, including the recent construction of a wall which cuts through mangrove wetlands in Pepillo Salcedo and informal settlements in Pedernales. Despite broader political agendas, the daily life of residents in the Border region is deeply tied to the transnational exchange of culture, commerce, and solidarity between Haitians and Dominicans, the heart of which is a system of bi-national markets where Dominicans and Haitians exchange and buy essential goods.
Pepillo Salcedo, a coastal town of 3,700 people in the northwestern-most corner of the DR, is surrounded by estuarine mangrove habitats of the Dajabón River and the Estero Balsa.

The plan for Pepillo Salcedo focuses on creating a green system that harmoniously integrates residential, industrial, and ecological systems. This includes protected areas, habitat restoration, water management, civic open spaces, and green buffers.
Jimaní, a town of 18,466 people, is located in the valley between Lake Enriquillo and Lake Azuei in the DR’s Independcia Province. It is a major transnational connection to Haiti’s capital city of Port Au Prince, which is only 53km away.

The plan for Jimani aims to guide urban growth towards reconnecting fragmented neighborhoods, and focuses on strengthening natural systems through floodplain management, reforestation, and wetlands restoration.
Students in this studio grappled with the balance of economics, ecology, politics, and community stability in planning for the region’s future growth, and produced plans for a future at the Dominican-Haitian border rooted in environmental justice and healing.

To know more, visit:

Healing Borders at Panorama