
In response to President Trump's plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, a group of designers has released a set of bold proposals to instead create an entirely new territory.

The futuristic plans for Otra Nation - a territory open to both US and Mexican citizens - would span more than 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometres) and feature the likes of solar farms and a hyperloop transportation system.

Once built, the ecotopia would produce enough energy from its 90,000 square kilometres of solar panels to power itself and neighbouring areas.

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Once built, the ecotopia would produce enough energy from its 90,000 square kilometres of solar panels to power itself and neighbouring areas

OTRA NATION The futuristic plans for Otra Nation would span more than 1,200 miles and feature the likes of solar farms and a hyperloop transportation system. Once built, the ecotopia would produce enough energy from its 90,000 square kilometres of solar panels to power itself and neighbouring areas. The nation would act as an environmental and economic boundary between the two countries and would cost an estimated $12 billion (£9.6 billion) to $15 billion (£12.1 billion) to create. Advertisement

The proposals were released by MADE Collective - a group of 14 members (seven from north of the border and seven from south), including architects, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and ecologists.

In order to bring their proposals to life, the group collaborated online throughout February and March, holding one working session in Mexico and one in the US.

Once governance plans had been settled, the group then spent a week finalising the designs for their project.

A shared co-nation, the group said, would act as an environmental and economic boundary between the two countries and would cost an estimated $12 billion (£9.6 billion) to $15 billion (£12.1 billion) to create.

According to the plans, by 2018, the US and Mexico would sign a bilateral agreement to form this area, which would then be voted on by some 40 million future residents.

The designers believe that the shared nation would bring the Mexican and US people together, both socially and culturally.

In their proposal, the designers wrote: 'Otra Nation will integrate social infrastructure for healthcare, community, sports and leisure centres as ways to appoint and generate a healthy social fabric by engaging the inhabitants with their milieu.

'Besides sharing the same geographical conditions, the continuous exchange of information, knowledge, artistic expression and migration between sides will produce fertile ground to bring forth a hybrid sense of identity.

'This new sense of self will be clearly embedded with a borderless narrative present in language, food, and different modes of artistic expression and cultural production. This overlap of identities will strengthen a sense of belonging to the synergic scenario.'

The futuristic plans for Otra Nation would span more than 1,200 miles and feature the likes of solar farms and a Hyperloop transportation system (artist's impression pictured)

A huge solar farm would produce clean energy to the area, as well as to communities nearby.

The designers added: 'A clean energy approach will make Otra Nation an extraction free zone (zero oil and mining) by grounding its energetic solutions in solar farming and electric transportation (Hyperloop for cargo and people, electric cars).

'With 90,000 square kilometres of solar farms along the deserts of Otra Nation we can produce 7,942,811 GWh of clean energy, enough to provide with solar power both Mexico and the United States combined.'

In response to President Trump's plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, a group of designers has released a set of bold proposals to instead create an entirely new territory

WHAT IS HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. Advertisement

The designers also see people entering Otra Nation, without the need to show their passport.

They said: 'There has been few improvements to Passports for the past decade. This has led to antiquated systems that are often easily manipulated.

'Global Entry has shown that biometric card systems are the way forward.

'Once we couple this with the incredible advancements in iris scanning and speech pattern recognition, we believe law-abiding North American citizens (Canada, Mexico and the United States) should have the right to cross the continent through an open border system, unhindered by any barriers.'

The response to these proposals has been '90 per cent positive,' the group said, though there has been some negativity also.

Moving forward, MADE Collective plans to work on a taxation policy for the area - a flat tax offset by energy.

According to recent reports, more than 200 companies have expressed an interest in designing the border wall for Customs and Border Protection.

The proposed territory would span 1,200 miles across North America, but unlike Trump's wall, it would be open to both Mexican and US citizens

Memo Cruz, governance lead and design collaborator for MADE Collective's proposal, said: 'The majority of support has come from law enforcement and local citizens of the current border.

'We are calling for a bi-national referendum between Americans and Mexicans to allow for this territory to be formed.

'We hope our team is invited to meet with Presidents Nieto and Trump to explain our alternative.

'This is not a protest concept - this is a pragmatic, forward-thinking solution for the future of our shared interests.'

The designers now hope that they will be invited to meet with Presidents Nieto (left) and Trump (right) to explain their alternative



