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Putting order into the cities: the evolution of ‘policy science’ in eighteenth-century Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Pedro Fraile
Pedro Fraile
Affiliation:
Dept. Geografia i Sociologia, Universitat de Lleida, 25003 Lleida, Spain
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Abstract

Urban growth revealed problems associated with the administration of mid-sixteenth-century cities. In the Mediterranean area, and especially in Spain and France, a discrete discourse emerged in the late seventeenth century as to how towns and cities should be organized and administered. Contained in numerous tracts and manuals were ‘policy science’ recommendations to deal with environmental health and related matters. This article examines the evolution of ‘policy science’ in Spain which achieved its greatest prominence during Carlos III's reign (1759–88). It is a field of study which offers insights into urban customs, behaviour and beliefs, and had important implications for the subsequent morphology of the Spanish city.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , May 1998 , pp. 22 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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References

1 Benevolo, L., La ciudad europea (Barcelona, 1993), 130.Google Scholar Also of interest is Vries, J. de, European Urbanization: 1500–1800 (London, 1984).Google Scholar

2 The following text is interesting with regard to ‘policy science’ in Spain: L. Jordana de Pozas, ‘Los cultivadores espan¯oles de la ciencia de polic´a’, in IEAL, Centenario de los iniciadores de la ciencia juridíco-administrativa espan¯ola (Madrid, , 1944), 135–55.Google Scholar For cameralism and its repercussions on health policy, see Rosen, G., ‘Cameralism and the concept of medical policy’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 27 (1953), 21–42.Google Scholar

3 In fact the sixth and last book entitled De la Voirie, that corresponds to the fourth volume, was not written by Nicolas Delamare but by Le Cler du Brillet who had worked in close collaboration with Delamare in later years. The full title of the piece is very telling in terms of its content and interests: Delamare, N., Traité de la Police, ou l'on trouvera l'Histoire de son etablissement, les functions et les prerogatives de ses magistrats; toutes les lois et tous les reglaments qui la concernent: On y joint une description historique et topographique de Paris, et huit plans gravez, qui represent son ancien Etat et ses divers acroissements, avec un recueil de tous les status et reglements de six corps de marchands et de toutes les Communautez des Arts et Métiers (Paris, 1705–1738).Google Scholar

4 Spain at that time was a major world power whose intellectuals and scientists enjoyed universal renown. In this sense, the following book is of interest: Pin¯ero, J.M. López, La introducción de la ciencia moderna en España (Barcelona, 1969).Google Scholar

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38 With regard to the change in domination strategies in the eighteenth century and its repercussions on the social control systems and, in particular, on the penitentiary apparatus, see Fraile, P.Un espacio para castigar. La cárcel y la ciencia penitencia en España (siglos XVIII–XIX) (Barcelona, 1987).Google Scholar With regard to the morphological implications on penitentiary architecture, see Fraile, P., ‘El castigo y el poder. Espacio y lenguaje de la cárcel’, Geo-Critica, 47 (1985).Google Scholar