Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Este trabajo se ocupa de la metamorfosis que Walter Scott opera sobre la gura quijo- tesca para transformarla en un tipo recurrente en la narrativa decimonónica europea, pues está vinculado a una de sus variantes más ca- racterísticas, el bildungsroman. Tal metamor- fosis se produce en Waverley, or ‘tis Sixty Years Since (1814), por lo que, en primer lugar, se analizan los rasgos quijotescos distintivos del nuevo tipo de héroe que Scott formula en esta novela: su imaginación romántica de raíz lite- raria y su inadecuación a un modelo heroico de carácter caballeresco. A continuación, se estudia la inserción de tal quijotismo en un relato de aprendizaje y desilusión para, nal- mente, mostrar cómo el héroe quijotesco que cristaliza en Wavelery dará lugar a un tipo de relato que podemos denominar la novela del héroe fallido. El héroe quijotesco decimonó- nico es resultado de las transformaciones que Scott y otros autores efectúan no solo sobre el original español sino también sobre sus meta- morfosis extranjeras posteriores. 

Este artículo trata sobre el impacto de los decretos del Concilio de Trento en la transformación del espacio de la arquitectura eclesiástica a través del confesonario, haciendo referencia a ciertos ejemplos españoles. 

Este artículo aclara el concepto de la denominada Peninsular War, poniendo de mani esto la parcial versión británica del mismo a lo largo de los siglos. Un recorri- do historiográ co riguroso demuestra que la guerra, ejemplo de resistencia española y de inactividad británica, dejó sin embar- go, una versión manipulada y desvirtuada de los hechos que minimizaban el esfuerzo español y maximizaban los logros británi- cos. Se analizan datos interesantes de los ecos de tal guerra en Gran Bretaña, desde la acuñación de la expresión por Robert Southey en 1823 a su rastro en periódi- cos, representaciones teatrales, novelas, relatos de aventuras y viajes. Así mismo se presentan fuentes españolas antes ignora- das que recuperan voces alternativas para complementar y rechazar la representación británica, tradicionalmente entendida en clave de gesta heroica. 

Los espacios públicos adquieren gran importancia como lugares de encuentro e integración de los habitantes, como articuladores de la vida social. Entre ellos, los parques de barrio definen un nivel doméstico en el sistema de espacios públicos, y se caracterizan por su elevado grado de uso y su proximidad al lugar de residencia. El estudio de estos espacios en la ciudad de Valencia evidencia que, la mayor parte de ellos, se sitúa en los barrios de periferia consolidada lo que permite avanzar puntos en común en los procesos de consolidación morfológica con otras ciudades españolas. En el momento actual los ciclos de desarrollo urbano justifican la necesidad de dirigir la mirada hacia la ciudad consolidada y el espacio público partiendo de la escala humana. Desde esta óptica, los parques de barrio se conforman como espacios de oportunidad, pues manifiestan en muchos casos obsolescencia funcional y física, que conviene repensar para el indudable beneficio del confort ambiental de los usuarios y, en conjunto, de la ciudad.PALABRAS CLAVE: espacio público; parques de barrio; periferia urbana consolidada; regeneración urbana; uso social del espacio; calidad ambiental.Public spaces acquire great importance as places of encounter and integration of the inhabitants, as articulators of social life. Among them, neighborhood parks determine a domestic level in the system of public spaces; and they are characterized by their high degree of use and their proximity to the place of residence. The study of these spaces in the city of Valencia shows that, most of them, are located in the neighborhoods of consolidated urban periphery. That allows to deal successfully with common points in the processes of morphological consolidation with other Spanish cities. At the present time the cycles of urban development need to look forward to the consolidated city and the public space starting from the human scale. From this perspective, neighborhood parks represent areas of opportunity, since they show physical and functional obsolescence in many cases. Then, there is a need for rethinking of them for the obvious benefits of the residents’ environmental comfort and, by all means, for the benefits of the entire city.KEYWORDS: public green; neighbourhood parks; consolidated urban periphery; urban regeneration; social use of space; environmental quality.

En el imaginario global, Dubái representa hoy en día una fascinante y reluciente ciudad joven proyectada hacia el futuro aunque hace tan solo 50 años, la ciudad no era más que pequeña población de comerciantes y pescadores. Sin embargo, el descubrimiento y comercialización el petróleo en los años 60 supuso un punto de inflexión en la historia del emirato y su capital. Rápidamente brotaron del desierto infinitas siluetas de luces brillantes que animan la imagen de Dubái. Una imagen que presenta numerosas analogías con las fachadas iluminadas de Las Vegas, ciudad con la que Dubái ha sido frecuentemente comparada, pero, ¿qué se esconde verdaderamente “detrás de las fachadas” de este espectáculo urbano? La rápida y explosiva expansión de la ciudad durante el pasado reciente condujo a fenómenos de expansión urbana y a la proliferación de espacios basura (junkspaces). En medio de zonas de alta densidad existen grandes espacios vacíos y zonas desérticas generan una fuerte sensación de desorientación urbana. Así, en una ciudad donde los centros comerciales y los hoteles se ha convertido en los principales puntos de agregación social, la estructura urbana parece similar a una interconexión de “no-lugares”, según la definición de Marc Augé, de iconos dispersos por el territorio. Este artículo analizará las ambiciones implícitas y descartadas de los distintos planes urbanos de Dubái para, en base a ellos, tratar de señalar las soluciones para las actuales cuestiones urbanas abiertas.PALABRAS CLAVE: Dubái, crecimiento, plan urbano, morfología, densidad, futuro.In the global imaginary, Dubai represents a fascinating and glimmering young city projected to the future even, if just 50 years ago, the city was a small village of fishermen and shopkeepers. Nevertheless, the discovery and commercialization of oil in the 60s was a turning point in the history of the emirate and its capital. Quickly sprout up from the desert, the glittering led lights that animate Dubái’s skyscrapers at night present common analogies with the «decorated sheds» of Las Vegas, which is a city commonly compared with Dubái. But, what is concealed “behind the scenes” of this outstanding urban spectacle? The very fast and bursting expansion of the city of the recent past led to phenomena of urban sprawl and to the proliferation of junkspaces. In between highdensity zones, there are large unbuilt empty spaces and desertic areas that generate a strong sensation of urban disorientation. Thus, in a city where shopping malls and hotels became the main points of social aggregation, the urban structure seems similar to an interconnection of Non-Places, following the definition of Marc Augé, of urban landmarks spread on the territory. This paper will attempt to unfold the implied and jettisoned ambitions of Dubái’s masterplans, attempting to point out solutions for the present open urban issues.KEYWORDS: Dubai, urban growth, masterplan, morphology, density, future

La Ciudad de Nueva York fue pionera en la aplicación de un sistema de planificación de control urbano que pusiera orden y concierto a una ciudad que rebasa los 5 millones de habitantes a principios del siglo XX. Tal complejo organismo urbano, inédito hasta ese momento, fue objeto del más ambicioso plan urbano sobre una ciudad construida.Este artículo se destina al estudio de este originario plan urbano de 1916, el cual sentaría las bases, unas ciertamente visionarias otras excesivas, de la construcción de la Ciudad de Nueva York en todo el siglo XX. La Building Zone Resolution se creó con dos fines: resolver los problemas de congestión humana en un espacio reducido, la ciudad del presente, y proponer una visión del espacio urbano en las décadas venideras, la ciudad del futuro.El artículo es un compendio de diez textos cortos y un epílogo, que junto a sus respectivos diez documentos gráficos, construyen el corpus de la investigación. El lector pues se enfrenta a un ensayo gráfico formado por pequeños capítulos que le sumergirán en los orígenes de la primera ciudad vertical de la historia.PALABRAS CLAVE: Nueva York; Planeamiento; Visión urbana.The city of New York was a pioneer in the implementation of an urban control planning system that set in order a city that exceeds five million people in the early twentieth century. Such complex urban organism – invaluable until that moment – was the target for the most ambitious urban planning on a built city.This paper focuses on the study of this initial urban planning from 1916, which would set the basis, certainly some visionary yet others excessive, for the building of New York City throughout the 20th century. The Building Zone Resolution was created with two purposes: to solve the issues related to the human bundle in a limited space, the city of the present, and to aim a vision of the urban space in the forthcoming decades, the city of the future.The article is a compendium of ten short texts and one epilogue, which in combination with ten graphic documents, frame the corpus of this investigation. Thus, the reader will face a graphic essay composed by a series of brief chapters that highlight the beginning of the first vertical city in history.KEYWORDS: New York; Planning; Urban vision.

This article unfolds the analysis of the railway viaduct that crosses the German capital in an eastern-western direction. The aim is to decipher the urban design strategies used in the highly planned Stadtbahn, focusing on the configuration of Berlin’s urban physiognomy through a “well-ordered facade.” Thus exposing the morphologically linear construction associated with transport infrastructure, making clear the railway project design as a building-viaduct, imposing its architectural façade’s scenic effects on the surrounding public space. Through an in situ survey it is left clear that this building-viaduct, has the ability to break the “curse of border vacuums “, counteracting the destruction of neighboring areas that typically converts the segregated path into a physical and social border route. The intention is to clarify the value that architecture adds to these infrastructures originated as an accurate response to specific problems of time and distance, enlightening a multidisciplinary field, which becomes increasingly unavoidable, where the contribution of architects is still very much diffused.KEYWORDS: Transport infrastructure, Railway, Well-ordered facade, Building-viaduct, Urban physiognomy, Berlin.

Stereoscopic photography utilizes dual camera lenses that are placed at approximately the interocular distance of human beings in order to replicate the slight difference between what each eye sees and therefore the effect of parallax. The pair of images that results is then viewed through a stereoscope. By adjusting the device, the user eventually sees the two photographs merge into a single one that has receding planes of depth, often producing a vivid illusion of intense depth. Stereoscopy was used by photographers throughout the second half of the Nineteenth Century to document every building that was deemed to be culturally significant by the European and American photographers who pioneered the medium, starting with its introduction to the general public at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851. By the early 1900s, consumers in Europe and America could purchase from major firms stereoscopic libraries of buildings from around the world. Stereoscopic photography brought together the emotional, technical and informed acts of looking, especially with regard to architecture. In this essay, the focus in upon the first of those acts, wherein the phenomenal and spatial dimensions of viewing are examined. Images of architecture are used to argue that the medium not only was a manifestation of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, but also validated the philosophy. After an analysis of how stereoscopic photography and Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy intersect, seven stereographs of architectural and urban subjects are discussed as examples, with the spatial boundaries of architecture and cities argued as especially adept in highlighting connections between the medium and the philosophy. In particular, the notion of Fundierung relationships, the heart of Merleau-Ponty phenomenology, is shown to closely align with the stereoscopic viewing experience describing layers of dependency.  

In the face of architecture, a metaphor that mediates between immensity and intimacy, we become completely sensory beings, not only visual organisms. A continuous tension exists between the reality of its material and tectonic construction, and the abstract, idealized and spiritual dimension of its artistic imagery. In the same way, a photograph of a built space contains two interiors: the interior of the image and the inner world of the viewers themselves. All images, as visual objects, are sensed as an inner experience that echoes out onto the realms of the public and the diverse. A transfer of feelings and ideas takes place, one that, in contemporary art, is as crucial as it is misunderstood. The photographic work of Jan Dibbets analyses the communication of this duality: the tension between central and peripheral vision, the multiplicity of perspectives, the intellectualization of the straight line, the sequence of interpretations, the intersections of the magnetism of beauty... Since it is the result of the active tension between perception and representation, the void is generated between a central point— emphasized as the constructor of the image and not as the physical location of the subject—and the arch where the sequences of what is visible take place. This distance inevitably separates experience from physical nature. It is a concave horizon tensed by the dispersion and gravity of the circular order, between what is recognizable and what is known intuitively.

In 1870s the German architect Hermann Eduard Maertens grounded his Optical Scale research on Hermann Helmholtz and Franciscus Donders’ works about the physiology of vision and engrafted it in the tradition of Renaissance perspective and proportion theory’s applications to architecture and urban planning. This article describes the scientific core of his approach, in the context of a general revision of aesthetic enjoyment of artworks and a deterministic reorientation of human knowledge toward the industrial production; his elaboration of a triad of visual angles to determine size and organization of space according to visual targets; the diffusion of visual cones as a graphic tool to include perceptual values in the project; the immediate success of his formula among architects and urban planners but, at the same time, the critical reception of his static concept of urban perception; the means of transmission of his ideas in the XX century and their often unaware long-term influence on some postwar years researches.