Establecimiento de la ciudad hispana en América

Abstract

As a contribution to the consolidation of the theory of Hispanic city models at different times of colonization in America, this article reviews some aspects of the logic of establishment of Spain in the preHispanic American territory, logic that resorted to different strategies for the implementation and maintenance of this urban organization, from incorporating in the founding layout of the city, the pre-existence of the “naturals” in the territory, the strict view of a geometric model for the “distribution” of urban areas and the fulfillment of various actions in time, to keep that “organization” in a territory with some regional and usage logics which refused to disappear. It relies on the historical monitoring to the occupation logic of the pre-Hispanic territory of Tunja to keep vestiges from prehispanic territorial structures and the urban structure of the Spanish city, as well as the notion of Settlement as generator of the necessary interventions to build the city in three modalities involving intervention strategies on the territory. These modalities are: Found, Renew and Restore, regarded as intentions and visions behind the different ways of intervention to maintain control of the territory, and response to changes in physical and social contexts in different periods of colonization, which may explain the success of Spanish urbanism in America.