The 1848 geometric plan of Alcalá la Real (Jaen). A pioneering response in Andalusia to the first attempt at urban planning in nineteenth century Spain

Abstract

The municipal archives hold true documentary treasures which, although usually known, used or referenced at the local level, are devoid of the context and the objective that caused them to be produced. Inquiries into when, why, who or how this documentation was created go beyond the work of the archivist to become that of the researcher. The objective of this work is therefore to clarify the origin of an urban plan preserved in the Municipal Archive of Alcalá la Real (AMAR), which, although known and used extensively in local publications and research, the reason of its existence was unknown as was its true importance, since it is one of the pioneering examples at the Andalusian and even Spanish level of the planimetry produced in the mid-nineteenth century, in response to a royal decree that pursued the planning of the incipient urban growth of the time.