Historical cartography, urban design and planning: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the 1927 Topographical Plan

Abstract

This paper analyses the origin and background of the survey known as the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Topographical Plan, carried out in 1927 by military engineers Rafael Villa Calzadilla and Antonio Núñez Maturana when Mayor Santiago García Sanabria was in office, and the practical consequences arising from it, as an example of applying knowledge obtained from historical cartographic sources to contemporary urban design and planning. Our purpose is to establish how these sources can facilitate stricter intervention in the city, irrespective of the multidisciplinary nature of this type of action. The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Topographical Plan provides rigorous information about the state of the city around 1927. The document consists of 31 squared sheets, approximately one metre long, at 1:500 scale. At the time of consultation, the plan was housed in the Infrastructure Services of Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Hall. As occurs with other documents currently scattered around various departments of the City Hall and vital for knowledge regarding the historical development of the city, it would be desirable for such documents to be deposited in the Municipal Archives, at an information centre or city museum that could provide higher security, with a view to their conservation, consultation and diffusion. Studying and analysing such documentation concerning the urban history of Santa Cruz de Tenerife enables us to reach conclusions that may be applicable to geographical locations of similar conditions—especially within the Canary Islands (Spain) and even in Latin America—owing to cultural and historical affinities. This work particularly stresses our interest in a historical knowledge of cities so as to address urban design and planning from contemporary cultural assumptions.