Las Leyes de Indias : observations of its influence on the physical space in the Latin American colonial cities

Abstract

This Thesis involves an analysis and a description of the structure of physical space of the Latin America Colonial Cities. The section of the document known as Leyes de Indias which deals with the urbanistic norms and the prescriptions for the laying out of the colonial cities, and the cities founded within the first three centuries of the colonial period, are the most important elements of this thesis. Several issues are to be discussed throughout the work and the most important ones are: The social and political context underlying the building up of the vast network of new cities in Latin America, The characteristics of that network and the means to control its development. The colonial city as resulting from the application of such means of control, or in other words, of the prescriptions contained in the Laws of Indias. The changes produced by contradictions on what was prescribed by those Laws and identified through a systematic observation of the available sample of cities. The reasons behind those changes. The relevancy of this work in terms of the current trends of development of Venezuelan cities. The process oriented and the product oriented views of this issue. Finally, the material is presented in two major parts containing, the first, an analysis of the context and the objectives from where the Laws of Indias were derived, of the hypothesis concerning the sources from where the Spanish planners drew those urbanistic norms, and, a description of the structure of physical space as prescribed by the Laws of Indias. The second part contains the description of the structure of physical space, and the substantiation of that description, as resulting from the application of the prescriptions and norms contained in the Laws. The substantiation is made through previous studies from Latin American, European and North America authors. The conclusion of this second part and at the same time, of the whole work, is a recompilation of those issues and of various speculations concerning their relation with today's city.