Juárez movers and shakers have been dreaming for more than six years about what their city could become and how to make it happen. The first stage of the process is over. After gathering input from leaders in business, industry, government, education and more than 14,000 rank and file Juarenses, an image of what the city should look like in 2015 has emerged. Now the project is being moved from the drawing board to reality.

      “This is a groundbreaking effort,” says Lucinda Vargas, director of the Juárez Strategic Plan Association, a non-profit group established in 2001 to facilitate the creation and implementation of a long-range plan for Juárez development. “This is such an innovative formula. We’re breaking new ground in the mindset. This is not done in a lot of cities in the world.”

      This is the dream: In 2015, Juárez has become part of a bi-national metropolis that is innovative on a global-scale in its ways of governance, management and cooperation. Juárez, El Paso and neighboring communities in New Mexico share objectives, resources and responsibilities while each specializes in its area of excellence.

      The infrastructure development allows optimal use of the resources and efforts available in the metropolis and jointly solves problems that impact both sides of the border. Mobility has been enhanced by a high quality public transportation system that efficiently links the metropolis from north to south and east to west.

      The city is a space of high social integration and civic interaction and is an international benchmark for the management of issues associated with the border and the fight against crime, impunity and the defense of individual and human rights.

    Through a comprehensive program for neighborhood development and other social and urban-planning projects, the city has become a more humane environment with decent housing and neighborhoods, green areas, parks, cultural facilities and spaces where citizens can convene and interact socially, all based on...

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