Project Description
Curbed’s Alyssa Walker profiled superhero-turned-Luskin grad student, Peatónito.
Over the past decade, Peatónito, the mysterious masked defender of Mexico City’s pedestrians, has been spotted ushering walkers through intersections in a race against a dwindling countdown clock, scrambling over illegally parked cars in a single bound, and straining, even with his superhuman strength, to shove back wayward vehicles that have crept over the crosswalk bar (good-natured drivers usually put their car slowly in reverse, making the gag truly deliver). With a black-and-white leather luchador mask accented with a neon-green walking-man icon and a flowing crosswalk-striped cape, Peatónito has become an urbanist legend, starring in international news segments, traveling the world giving keynotes, and inspiring more than a few copycats. But for the last two years, Peatónito’s superhero status has been supplemented by scholarly pursuits — he, or rather his alter ego, moved to Los Angeles to earn his master’s in urban and regional planning at UCLA, and he’s been wrestling with how to use his powers in a city that’s notoriously hostile to walkers. Read more >>