Living Creek: Arroyo Vivo, Monterrey, Mexico.

Arroyo Vivo Studio is a binational, transdisciplinary design studio uniting students and faculty from Tecnológico de Monterrey, MCHAP, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Anchored in the ecological and social regeneration of the Arroyo Seco(also known as Arroyo San Agustín), the studio confronts one of the most urgent urban challenges in the Monterrey metropolitan region: reconciling rapid urbanization with the restoration of natural systems.

Spanning the municipalities of Monterrey, San Pedro Garza García, and Guadalupe, this rugged river corridor—tucked within the Sierra Madre mountains—hosts a fragile yet vibrant landscape of deep canyons, drought-resistant vegetation, and ancestral hydrological networks. The studio reframed the arroyo not as residual space but as a “mother river”—a life-giving ecological spine capable of cultivating biodiversity, cultural identity, and climate resilience.

In close dialogue with local stakeholders, students developed transformation scenarios that remediate environmental degradation while envisioning public infrastructures for equity, proximity, and renewed connection to nature. The process emphasized ancestral land knowledge, territorial inequality, and emergent urban ecologies.

The result is a set of visionary proposals rooted in the belief that restoring the health of the river also restores civic life. Arroyo Vivo becomes a landscape of regeneration—where water, community, and territory converge to imagine new urban futures.

This collaboration continues through long-term research and implementation. Monterrey Tech has since opened Oasis, a public space in Campana serving hundreds daily with free classes, markets, and recreation—marking the first step toward transforming Campana into Monterrey’s urban botanical garden.