As Mexico City wakes up on any given weekday, most of its citizens participate in a familiar, survival-of-the-fittest routine: commuting in the car-dependent megapolis. It is one of honking, tire-screeching, yelling chilango curses out of sedan windows and, more recently, glimpsing occasional plants among the sea of grey concrete.
The Via Verde project has focused on “turning Mexico City’s grey to green” through the construction of vertical gardens on columns along the Periférico highway, which rings the central city. The photogenic plants climbing up the freeway barriers have featured in countless videos in the local and international media, and often referenced as a sign of the polluted city’s changing priorities.