| Blurr Borders: Table of Contents |
Regional Planning
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| What’s the issue? The San Diego/Tijuana Region is now the largest binational metropolitan area in North America. Today, the region has over 4.1 million people (2.8 million in San Diego and 1.3 million in Tijuana), and San Diego’s population is growing at an annual rate of 2.8%. While the municipality of Tijuana has 1.3 million, if we add Tecate and Rosarito, the total regional population is 4.3 million. Overall, Tijuana is growing at an annual rate of 4.9%, almost double the rate of San Diego. It is expected that the region’s population will reach 8 million by 2030. The consequences of rapid growth are already visible in the region: housing costs are skyrocketing; urban sprawl and a proposed triple border fence threaten rural communities and sensitive habitats of binational ecological importance; transportation infrastructure is insufficient to service the growing traffic; and water and energy supply is becoming an increasingly urgent and hotly contested issue. Increased border crossing delays due to heightened security concerns hamper the ability of the region’s trans-border commuting population to cross the border, resulting in decreased commercial sales and tourism. Such delays will be made worse if planned measures by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are not well implemented to facilitate the soon-to-be implemented entry/exit visa processings at land border crossings such as San Ysidro and Otay Mesa. |
Why should you care? |