My research examines the construction of Mexico City’s Deep Drainage System, a vast underground sewer inaugurated in 1975 with tunnels seven meters in diameter, reaching depths of up to 220 meters, and extending 68 kilometers at its inauguration, later expanded to more than 270 kilometers today. How could such advanced subterranean infrastructure be built in 1960s Mexico, when the country lagged behind in underground construction?

Drawing on my doctoral dissertation, I argue that the project cannot be explained only through local factors such as recurrent flood threats, shifting political priorities, and the imperatives of capital accumulation. Instead, it must be understood as the outcome of Global North–South scientific and technological cooperation. The system was not a “100% Mexican” achievement, but the product of collaboration that built on Karl Terzaghi’s Erdbaumechanik (soil mechanics) and the expertise of Mexican engineers trained in his tradition.