Cancún to Build New Family Park Modeled on Mérida’s La Plancha

Cancún, Quintana Roo — City officials are proposing a new park for a vacant lot in northern Cancún, designed as a family-friendly space with playgrounds, water features, and extensive shade.

The project would transform a triangular parcel at the corner of Avenida 20 de Noviembre and Avenida Costa Maya, in the Supermanzana 228 neighborhood. The site is currently a dirt lot used mainly as a shortcut by pedestrians, and vehicles sometimes drive across it, according to Héctor Sánchez Tirado, director of the Municipal Planning Institute (Implan) in Benito Juárez.

Sánchez Tirado said the park is aimed primarily at children and families, noting that the surrounding area has a relatively high concentration of young people compared with other parts of the city. “We want to encourage people to use it not just as a pass-through, but as a place to stay and interact,” he said.

The design includes significant vegetation to provide shade, a key consideration given Cancún’s high temperatures. “Shade is essential in a park,” Sánchez Tirado said. “The project has an important vegetation plan so the park offers adequate thermal comfort for visitors.”

In addition to green areas, the plans call for children’s play equipment, water mirrors, a fountain, and improved pedestrian connections between the park and surrounding streets.

The concept draws inspiration from family-oriented spaces such as Mérida’s Gran Parque La Plancha, though Sánchez Tirado stressed that the Cancún project will have its own character. “It’s a park with a design unlike what we’ve typically seen here before,” he said.

The proposal is part of the city’s fourth package of municipal works and still needs approval from the Cancún city council. If authorized, the project would move through administrative procedures before being put out to bid. “This park will mark a before and after in the construction of parks and public space,” Sánchez Tirado said.