by John M. Eger

September 16, 2025

Together, San Diego and Tijuana form a cross-border economy of over 7 million residents, and while San Diego contributes strengths in research, defense, biotechnology, and higher education, Tijuana has developed into a global hub for advanced manufacturing, particularly in aerospace, electronics, and medical devices. The supply chains between the two cities are so tightly connected that the region functions as a single production system, marketed by regional leaders as “CaliBaja.” 

Every day, thousands of people cross the international border for work, study, shopping, or healthcare. Despite the presence of one of the busiest border crossings in the world, this daily movement reflects the deeply interdependent labor market. Initiatives like the Cross Border Xpress (CBX)—a privately funded binational airport terminal linking San Diego directly to Tijuana International Airport—demonstrate how infrastructure has adapted to regional realities that transcend national boundaries.

San Diego and Tijuana also share a vibrant cultural life. Artists, musicians, and chefs frequently collaborate across the border, generating a hybrid identity that blends Mexican and American influences. Tijuana’s culinary innovation and San Diego’s craft beer movement, for instance, have become shared cultural markers of the binational community. Universities, NGOs, and civic groups also work across borders on issues ranging from environmental sustainability to human rights.

October 2 through 4, for example, San Diego and Tijuana will celebrate a three-day event celebrating the musical richness of our binational region, with performances by internationally acclaimed artists in San Diego, Escondido, and Tijuana. 

The San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Fest is but one of many events the region showcases its binational heritage. The is a groundbreaking three-day jazz festival held across both sides of the border, celebrating Latin Jazz, son jarocho, and shared musical heritage—including tributes to Jelly Roll Morton and James Moody. It will feature performances from acclaimed artists like Lucía (son jarocho singer), Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Ensemble, and tributes with ensembles involving both San Diego and Tijuana composers and musicians.

The is not unusual for San Diego or Tijuana. 

Just think of other binational events that celebrate the creative synergy between San Diego and Tijuana:

1. Fandango Fronterizo (“Border Jam Session”)

• An annual son jarocho music and dance event held at Friendship Park (U.S.) and Faro de Playas (Mexico), where artists and audiences connect across the border fence through performance. 
• A powerful symbolic moment of cultural unity and expression, featuring call-and-response music bridging communities. 

2. Music en la Calle

• An inclusive, free musical festival in City Heights, San Diego, bringing together music from West Africa, China, Mexico, Burma, Japan—and notably a youth symphony from Tijuana—fostered by Bodhi Tree Concerts.
• A celebratory, multicultural gathering encouraging cross-border participation and connection through music and storytelling.

3. Bi-National Fringe at San Diego International Fringe Festival

• A unique cross-border theater and performance arts showcase in the Pasaje Rodriguez area, featuring artists from both San Diego and Tijuana across multiple venues with music, theater, art, and more. 

4. Tijuana Design Week

• A two-day design event spotlighting designers from Tijuana and featuring cross-border participation (including San Diego designers), workshops, exhibits, and talks—held just ahead of San Diego–Tijuana’s World Design Capital 2024 programming. 

5. Art Scene Baja (July & August Editions)

• A series of tours and events celebrating art, design, and architecture across San Diego, Tijuana, and Tecate, offering VIP cultural tours that connect visitors with regional artists and creative communities.

6. Artivism in the Borderlands

• An exhibition at the University of San Diego through the Kroc School, merging art and activism to reflect on migration and border experiences. Installations and performances convey messages like “Ninguna persona es ilegal” (No one is illegal) and aim at fostering dialogue and empathy across communities. 

7. Opera en la Calle (Tijuana)

• A long-running day-long open-air opera festival in Colonia Libertad, featuring parades, stilt walkers, street decorations, and musical performances—including youth choirs and orchestras, drawing audiences from both sides of the border. 

8. Chicano Park Anniversary Celebrations (San Diego)

• Annual cultural celebrations in Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park, featuring Aztec dancers, traditional music, ballet folklórico, murals, and art workshops, commemorating the park’s historic origins and community activism. 

While not a formal political unit, the San Diego–Tijuana region has developed networks of governance that allow it to act as a coherent whole. Organizations such as the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and Tijuana’s planning agencies coordinate—sometimes informally—on transportation, water use, and environmental conservation. Academic research increasingly views the region as a laboratory for post-national governance, where local collaboration often outpaces the ability of Washington, D.C., or Mexico City to adapt. San Diego–Tijuana exemplifies the rise of the region-state in a globalized world: a cross-border zone where economic, creative, and cultural forces bind communities more closely to each other than to their distant national capitals. It highlights both the opportunities and challenges of 21st-century governance, suggesting that the future of prosperity and innovation may lie less in nation-states and more in dynamic metropolitan regions.

The San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area is increasingly recognized as a region-state—a concept first articulated by Kenichi Ohmae in The End of the Nation State (1995). Ohmae argued that in an era of globalization, cross-border metropolitan zones, rather than traditional nation-states, function as the real engines of economic growth, creative and cultural innovation. San Diego–Tijuana, he argues, is a prime example of this transformation.

More and more, the arguments for making this official are compelling.