How conquistadors designed cities in the Americas
video description
Not many square cities in Canada. I guess the Spanish weren't fond of snow. :-)
Date: 2020-09-10
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 9
Un
There are also mexican cities that are not organized in square-shaped blocks like Guanajuato, Taxco and Zacatecas and this kind of chaotic or randoomly cities are called 'platos rotos' (broken dishes) because they adopted their form according to topographical reasons, most of this cities were settlements for minning activities during colonial period. I apologyse for my bad english and lack of grammatycal structure.
reply
There are also mexican cities that are not organized in square-shaped blocks like Guanajuato, Taxco and Zacatecas and this kind of chaotic or randoomly cities are called 'platos rotos' (broken dishes) because they adopted their form according to topographical reasons, most of this cities were settlements for minning activities during colonial period. I apologyse for my bad english and lack of grammatycal structure.
reply
Alejandro
My city(Manizales, Colombia) is a funny example on how this standarization does not adapt to all the latinamerican contexts. Manizales is literally built on top of the mountains and the grid design didnt consider the topography so the center of the city has street inclinations of up to 15 degrees! It's lovely thought, a bit ridiculous. but still, beautiful.
reply
My city(Manizales, Colombia) is a funny example on how this standarization does not adapt to all the latinamerican contexts. Manizales is literally built on top of the mountains and the grid design didnt consider the topography so the center of the city has street inclinations of up to 15 degrees! It's lovely thought, a bit ridiculous. but still, beautiful.
reply
alhesiad
The grid of Cuzco (Inca) and Tenochtitlan (Mexica) was also square or rectange based, so it was quite compatible with the spanish ideas. Incidentally, Santiago was funded over an inca administrative center, who usually had an open, half plaza in their settlements, so spaniards just needed to fill the other half to get a rectangle or square.
reply
The grid of Cuzco (Inca) and Tenochtitlan (Mexica) was also square or rectange based, so it was quite compatible with the spanish ideas. Incidentally, Santiago was funded over an inca administrative center, who usually had an open, half plaza in their settlements, so spaniards just needed to fill the other half to get a rectangle or square.
reply
Chinese
Question - when you discussed the central plaza (together with the cathedral, my mind couldn't help but first turn to Macau. Obviously, Macau has an incredibly different history than the the Spanish cities in the Americas, but it got me wondering - did the Portuguese have any similar standards for city planning?
reply
Question - when you discussed the central plaza (together with the cathedral, my mind couldn't help but first turn to Macau. Obviously, Macau has an incredibly different history than the the Spanish cities in the Americas, but it got me wondering - did the Portuguese have any similar standards for city planning?
reply
Lambda
Don't forget that the Spanish wanted architectural beauty as well. It is not only good for tourism, but rather good for life quality in a city. The impact of ugly and misfitted buildings in cities is still mostly underestimated. But beauty matters in an environment that we life in for the majority of our lives.
reply
Don't forget that the Spanish wanted architectural beauty as well. It is not only good for tourism, but rather good for life quality in a city. The impact of ugly and misfitted buildings in cities is still mostly underestimated. But beauty matters in an environment that we life in for the majority of our lives.
reply
MrBeaux
You forgot to mention that the corners of the central squares were, ideally, supposed to point in the cardinal directions. That's why in a lot of US cities that were originally founded by the Spanish (LA, for instance, the downtown grid is different from the rest of the city's grid.
reply
You forgot to mention that the corners of the central squares were, ideally, supposed to point in the cardinal directions. That's why in a lot of US cities that were originally founded by the Spanish (LA, for instance, the downtown grid is different from the rest of the city's grid.
reply
Pablo
Greetings from Costa Rica! Great content as usual. I'm always sad we didn't preserve our old town centers as much as other latin americans countries. I would love to have something like Antigua in Guatemala or Granada in Nicaragua. Some historic buildings remain, but feel scattered.
reply
Greetings from Costa Rica! Great content as usual. I'm always sad we didn't preserve our old town centers as much as other latin americans countries. I would love to have something like Antigua in Guatemala or Granada in Nicaragua. Some historic buildings remain, but feel scattered.
reply
Connor
Anyone else curious about the bibliography for 3: 28 Make sure there is a good site for an airport in 450 years? That's eerily accurate in terms of when we actually discovered flight for them to plan for. What invention are we planning that far in advance for right now?
reply
Anyone else curious about the bibliography for 3: 28 Make sure there is a good site for an airport in 450 years? That's eerily accurate in terms of when we actually discovered flight for them to plan for. What invention are we planning that far in advance for right now?
reply
Sci
can you do a video on what cities can do to be better for people in poverty? Plenty of large cities have problems of wealth inequality and not serving people of low socio-economic status, so what things can they do to improve this? or a video on the planning of communes
reply
can you do a video on what cities can do to be better for people in poverty? Plenty of large cities have problems of wealth inequality and not serving people of low socio-economic status, so what things can they do to improve this? or a video on the planning of communes
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
