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*Three Californias Project
*Proyecto de las Tres Californias

Fall 2011 Baja California Course
>>View Course Syllabus (.pdf)

Institute for Regional Studies
of the Californias
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive, AL 377
San Diego, CA 92182-6039

Location:Arts & Letters 377
Telephone: (619) 594-5423
Fax: (619) 594-5474
Email:irsc@mail.sdsu.edu

Last Update: 2/8/12

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Research Projects

The Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias has under way, or has recently completed, a number of applied research topics on issues related to the U.S.-Mexican border region and borders elsewhere. These projects are carried out by teams of researchers drawn from the faculty of San Diego State University, Mexican universities, and other regional and international universities. In addition, most of the projects involve practitioners and community members. A list and short description of these projects follows.

Alternative Futures of a Natural and Tourism Paradise: Los Cabos

This project is a joint effort of San Diego State University and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur. The project coordinators are Paul Ganster (SDSU), Oscar Arizpe (UABCS), and Antonina Ivanova (UABCS). Project participants include researchers from both UABCS and SDSU as well as from other Mexican universities and practitioners from Baja California Sur. The project will produce a series of essays on the natural and human history of the area of the municipality of Los Cabos, which occupies the tip of the Baja California peninsula.  Stimulated by large-scale planned tourism investment, the region’s population has grown very rapidly, averaging over nine percent per year over the last decade or so.  Poorly planned coastal development and explosive population growth have combined to create an impending crisis of environmental quality and quality of life of the inhabitants of the region. This volume will provide basic data and analysis to inform decision making in the community.

Used and Scrap Tires along the U.S.-Mexican Border: California and Baja California

This project is being completed for the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB). Each year, a significant number of used tires flow from the United States into Mexico both formally and informally. Most of these tires are generated in U.S. border states and then are transported into Mexican border states for the purpose of reuse. While the Mexican government establishes annual quota for imports of used tires—850,000 in the case of Baja California—large numbers also flow across the border without permits. Over the years, the formal and informal flow has contributed to the accumulation of massive waste tire piles on the Mexican side of the border region. Tire piles, in turn, create important transborder waste management, environmental, health, and economic problems affecting both U.S. and Mexican communities. Tire pile fires, trash in urban areas and watercourses, and habitat for vectors are problems associated with waste tires.

While the Mexican and U.S. governments have cooperated under Border 2012 to clean up many of the legacy tire piles, the flow of used tires continues unabated, driven by economic forces. Thus, tire piles continue to grow on the Mexican side of the border.

This project is analyzing the flow of used tires from California to Baja California, with special emphasis on economic and environmental impacts, ultimate disposition of scrap tires, and sustainable and productive alternative uses for scrap tires.  It is also examining the California and Baja California legislative and regulatory contexts and will provide suggestions on how the flow of tires and resultant problems can better be managed by U.S. and Mexican authorities.

The IRSC research team includes SDSU researchers (Paul Ganster and Kimberly Collins), SDSU student research assistants (Reynaldo Rojo and Scott Wagner), and Mexican researchers (Elizabeth Ramírez, Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California), and Mexican practitioners (Antonio Limón López, attorney).

Tires Report in English (.pdf) | Tires Report en Español (.pdf).

Loreto: The First Capital of the Californias

This project was undertaken as a joint effort of SDSU and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur in La Paz and grew out of longstanding collaboration between SDSU’s IRSC and UABCS’s Coastal Zone Management Laboratory.  The purpose of the project was to provide a baseline of information about Loreto. It was clear to the research team leaders that Loreto was entering a new and challenging period of its history as development pressures increased in Baja California Sur in the first years of the 21st century. Many decisions must be made in the near term by the community of Loreto and its representatives that will guide the long term future and sustainablility of the region. The project organizers intend that information and analysis provided by this project will help inform the stakeholders and community members who have the responsibility for guiding Loreto into the future.

The project team held meetings in Loreto, La Paz, and San Diego. Survey research was carried out in Loreto and meetings were held there with a range of community members and elected officials. More than twenty researchers from UABCS and SDSU participated in the project. The findings of the research project were published in a bilingual volume: Paul Ganster, Oscar Arizpe, and Antonina Ivanova, eds., Loreto: The Future of the First Capital of the Californias/Loreto: El Futuro de la Primera Capital de las Californias (San Diego: SDSU Press, 2007).

The project was funded by the International Community Foundation, SDSU, UABCS, and SCERP.

San Diego-Tijuana Binational Quality of Life Indicators

This project is developing quality of life indicators for the border region that includes the County of San Diego and the municipalities of Tijuana, Playas de Rosarito, and Tecate. In recent years, transborder integration has proceeded rapidly in terms of trade and economic development, cross-border cooperative transportation planning, local government cooperation, migration flows, cross-border collaboration of higher education and civil society organizations, popular culture and fine arts, and many other areas. Increasingly, the binational area has been characterized as one region, particularly since the implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement beginning in 1994.

This project, through a binational team of researchers and stakeholders, is developing data sets for indicators that are relevant to both sides of the border. These data are generated and maintained by government and private agencies and periodically updated. When the quantitative data sets for quality of life indicators are complete, the research team will then conduct survey research on both sides of the border to test how perceptions of individuals compare with the quantitative data. The indicators and survey results will be published in a booklet designed for a wide audience and will be updated periodically.

The Binational Tijuana River Watershed

This project is a series of related subprojects, some of which have been ongoing for a number of years, while others are in the beginning phases. The long-term purpose of the project is to support efforts to develop a binational watershed management plan to protect the environment and promote sustainable development in this complex and dynamic transborder region. The website for these projects is: http://trw.sdsu.edu. Components of this project include:

The Alamar River Project (completed)

This applied research project studied this river valley on the eastern edges of urban Tijuana and recommended creation of a river park for creation of green space, restoration of habitat, flood control, watershed protection and enhanced groundwater recharge, and improvement of land values and urban development possibilities. The Alamar River is an integral part of the Tijuana River watershed, feeding into the Tijuana River and Estuary downstream and connecting to the Cottonwood River and Tecate River upstream. Carried out by a team of SDSU, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), and Arizona State University students under the supervision of SDSU and UABC faculty, the project was undertaken at the request of IMPlan, the municipal planning department of Tijuana. Click here to view the Alamar River Corridor Final Report in PDF format.

Monograph of Tecate

This project convened a team of U.S. and Mexican researchers to develop a base document for the municipality of Tecate, covering basic topics such as satellite imagery, environment and urban river protection, history, public health, economy, infrastructure, governance, and others. Preliminary research results were presented at a public forum in Tecate in the spring of 2001 and completed studies will be published as a bilingual monograph early in 2002. The primary purpose of the project is to provide stakeholders in Tecate with basic information to help them guide the city and municipality in the years to come. Tecate, faced with urban sprawl from Tijuana from the east, still preserves high quality of life although it is now beginning to grow rapidly. This project is being conducted in cooperation with the Fundación La Puerta of Tecate and researchers from SDSU, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC). As a part of this project, IRSC also organized a forum in Tecate to discuss different models for urban rivers. The proceedings are available in the following PDF files: Urban Rivers in Tecate and Tijuana: Strategies for Sustainable Cities and Los ríos urbanos de Tecate y Tijuana: Estrategias para ciudades sustentables.

State of the Environment of the Tijuana River Basin

This project, ongoing since 1996, developed a binational research team, with the core group from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and San Diego State University, to produce a report on the state of the environment of the Tijuana River Basin and to engage in a number of outreach activities. The project has also engaged stakeholders from the public and private sectors, the NGO community, and Native American groups in the process. To date, a draft report has been produced, a series of workshops has been held, and preliminary results were presented at a public forum in Tijuana.

The ultimate goal of this project is to provide research and information that will support efforts to develop a management strategy for this binational basin.

San Diego-Tijuana-Tecate Binational Protected Area Project

This study is to identify ecologically sensitive areas that cross the border in the Tijuana-Tecate-San Diego region that would be suitable for conservation and protection. Lack of green areas and protected areas in the Tijuana-Tecate region, the need for a green buffer zone between the rapidly expanding urban areas of Tijuana and Tecate, and the need to link protected areas in southern San Diego County with critical areas in northern Baja California through habitat and wildlife corridors are all concerns of this project. The study will also review the literature on transborder protected areas, legal structures and land use, and possible implementation structures for protection of sensitive areas in San Diego and Baja California. This project is being conducted in cooperation with Fundación La Puerta and other regional stakeholders.
Urban River Planning Tools Using Internet Mapping: A Case Study with the Tecate River

Economy, Environment, and Development of the Imperial Valley-Mexicali Region

This project developed essays on a range of topics to provide baseline information and analysis on the greater Imperial Valley-Mexicali region. The purpose of the project is to provide high quality and reliable information that will enable readers to better understand the complex interactions of human systems and the natural environment of the region. The research team includes researchers from SDSU, public agencies on both sides of the border, community members, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC). The essays are written in non-technical language to facilitate their use by members of the community, researchers, students, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The essays will be published as a monograph by the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias and San Diego State University Press. This collaboravie effort produced the monograph: Kimberly Collins, Paul Ganster, Cheryl Mason, Eduardo Sánchez López, and Margarito Quintero-Núñez, eds., Imperial-Mexicali Valleys: Development and Environment of the U.S.-Mexican Border Region (San Diego: SDSU Press and IRSC, 2004). A Spanish-language version of this book was published by UABC.

This project was a collaborative effort of IRSC, San Diego State University’s California Center for Border and Regional Economic Studies in Calexico, the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy, COLEF, and UABC.

Characterization of the Gulf of California Region

This project carried out jointly with the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS) and with the participation of researchers from other Mexican universities, is characterizing natural and human systems of the Gulf of California. The goal of the project is to provide baseline information and analysis to support development of a management plan for the region. The project will include a workshop in the fall of 2001 and publication of a monograph.