Urban human restorative planning
Introduction
They are known as ordinances of Philip II those that he promulgated in the Segovia Forest (Casa del Bosque or Palacio de Valsaín) on July 13, 1573 through an authorization for the release of a part of book II of the "Ordinances of discoveries, new population and pacification of the Indies".
They will be fully published on May 3, 1576 in San Lorenzo el real de El Escorial.[1].
Composition
As indicated in the very title of the ordinances, these sought to regulate discoveries, populations and pacifications in the locations of already consolidated provinces and future advances to found new populations in America.
The ordinances are made up of 148 chapters. Of them, the first 31 are dedicated to the discoveries, being assigned to the new populations from chapter 32 to 137, and, finally, the chapters included between 137 and 148 are dedicated to regulating the pacifications.
These are what regulate elements found in all cities on the continent, such as the orthogonal (checkerboard) layout of the road network, the size of the urban blocks, the empty urban block to be used as a municipal square and the construction of the church on the eastern side of it. The latter because the Catholic rite requires that the altar be oriented towards the east (the east, hence the word orientation).
Predecessors
In 1542, Charles I carried out a first revision (New Laws) to legally regulate the discovery, conquest and population of the West Indies of the New World or Kingdoms of the Indies.
This urban structure restoring the best in engineering of the moment and the purest classical construction tradition, was initiated in the Western Hemisphere through the Euro-Afro-Atlantic connection of the Old Canarian archipelagic capital of San Cristóbal de la Laguna, in its ecclesiastical-spiritual facet, and the civic-military Cabildo, as the first non-fortified Spanish Renaissance city; His plan was the one that provided a model for the viceregal cities of the Americas. From whose merit comes its current status as a World Heritage city by UNESCO, granted in 1999.
• - Age of discoveries.
• - Text of the ordinances of Philip II.
References
- [1] ↑ Gustavo Munízaga ha datado las ordenanzas el 3 de mayo 1573, (MUNIZAGA VIGIL, 1999) pero Manzano refiere una autorización para la salida de una parte del libro II de las «Compilaciones de Indias» que trataba «el orden que se tendrá para el descubrimiento y población…» fechada en julio de 1573.