Reason, state, city and territory: from Sinapia to Valentín de Foronda

Abstract

From the second half of the sixteenth century onwards, Europe witnessed a complex process of planning (both territorial and of major cities) alongside the development of the urban network which, with certain modifications, has lasted until the present day. Such a dynamic ran parallel with the formation of modern states, which gave rise to serious thinking about these questions and about the relationships between sovereignty, territory, city and government. In the nineteenth century new elements linked to the construction of liberal states entered the equation.

This article comprises three investigations into the rationalist thinking that treated these themes. We will encounter first the proposals of the late baroque utopia Sinapia, from the end of the seventeenth century. Policy Science will next provide an example of administrators’ rationality and pragmatism. Finally, the discourse of Foronda will act as a test case for the Cartesian stance which, at the dawn of Liberal States, resorted to the ruler and set-square for regional and urban planning.