La Estructura Urbana de las Ciudades Mayas del Período Clásico

The Classic period of Maya civilization marks the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism. Multiple city-states had populations numbering more than 10,000 who shared complex urban structure. But did urban planning already exist in Mayan cities? The study by Andrea Peiro Vitoria considers different perspectives, with special emphasis on composition aspects, and starts from the analysis of the existent cartography. First of all, the creation of a homogeneous cartographic database makes possible the comparative studies between different sites. The use of this new database allows to provide a selection of cites that represents a varied and comparable sample. An urban analysis methodology is used to identify the main composition characteristics of each site and a comparative research is conducted to establish common patterns, criteria for spatial arrangements, and evolutionary theories. Even though every site has its own peculiarities, this research work identifies compositional and geometrical features and topological repetition with a clearly intended order and orientation that prove that urban and land-use planning existed in Mayan cities.