Urban Morphology and City Types in Spain
Cities in Spain
Urban Geography
Urban Geography is the study of urban spaces. It examines cities within their geographical context, including their historical background, building types, land uses, functions, organization, management, and the problems of urban agglomerations. Most countries define a ‘city’ based on a minimum population threshold, which varies by country. In Spain, a metropolitan area is generally considered a city if it has over 10,000 inhabitants. However, this criterion is incomplete and can lead to errors, as some settlements with 10,000 inhabitants may appear rural due to their characteristics and activities. Horacio Capel established three principles to define a city: size, the activities of its residents, and population density.
A city must have certain formal aspects, characterized by a high density of buildings and population, and a distinctive building typology. It must perform specific functions, primarily industrial and service activities. It should also be characterized by particular lifestyles and cultural patterns (e.g., less traditional families, anonymity). The spatial criterion considers a city’s ability to organize the surrounding space, influence other towns, and interact with other cities. The extent of a city’s influence depends on its size and the variety of functions it performs.
Urban Morphology
Urban morphology refers to the external appearance of a city. The elements that comprise it are:
- Situation: The relative position of the city with respect to its geographical environment.
- Location: Refers to the topography, the framework within which the city settles. Changes in a site’s role can be a major inconvenience. Historical sites often have these characteristics:
- Hilly locations for defensive purposes.
- Proximity to rivers, as seen in most capitals, due to the need for water or for defensive reasons.
- Crossroads, to facilitate trade and communications.
- The Plan: How the built and free spaces are distributed within the city. There are three main types:
Orthogonal Plan
Also known as a grid or hipodámico plan. Streets intersect at right angles. Advantages: Easy to extend and promotes civil division of the city, allowing for regular building blocks. Disadvantages: Not suitable for all topographies, roads and houses are similar, and right-angle intersections hinder traffic flow and visibility. This can be solved with diagonal layouts. Examples: Roman cities like Barcelona and Zaragoza, and in city extensions.
Radiocentric Plan
Features a central point from which streets and roads radiate outwards, intersected by others in a concentric pattern. Often originates in defensive sites. It is better suited to the topography and allows rapid access to the downtown area through radial axes. A clear example is the old town of Vitoria.
Irregular Plan
Has no defined shape, forming a complex network of short, narrow, irregular streets and blind alleys. It reflects the terrain’s topography and the lack of urban planning in some cities, typical of most old town maps. The main difficulty is poor communication with the center and challenges for vehicular traffic. Trade and tourism functions tend to concentrate in these areas due to the presence of major city monuments.
Building Types
- Old Houses: Predating the 19th-century remodeling, these are closed building types, grouped without regard to aesthetics.
- Block Houses (Manzana): Found only in 19th-century bourgeois neighborhoods. Fits the orthogonal plan and is organized around interior courtyards. Lower floors were for the wealthy, upper floors for the less affluent, with students or those with less purchasing power living in garrets. There were also differences between interior and exterior-facing housing.
- Skyscrapers: Very tall buildings, initially used for administrative and commercial purposes, originating in New York and Chicago in the late 19th century. Later applied to housing to address space constraints. Currently used in the design of modern neighborhoods.
- Single-family houses: Based on the English garden city concept. Intended for upper classes and located in suburban areas, surrounded by green spaces.
- Slums: Located on the outskirts or suburbs of almost every city. Dwellings built with waste materials and lacking basic hygiene.