The Aquatic Metropolis - Urban Design and Environmental Change in Tenochtitlan-Mexico City

For centuries, both the Aztec and the Spanish sought to control catastrophic flooding in Tenochtitlan and later Mexico City, buttheir responses were about more than just engineering. What might seem like straightforward hydraulic projects emerge, under rigorous examination, as complex intersections of visual cultures and philosophical worldviews about nature and cities.
Blending art history with the histories of cartography, science, technology, and the environment, this book offers a nuanced account of Mexico City's urban development. At its core is the visual culture of water--maps, drawings, and paintings by both indigenous and European artists that expose the differing epistemologies shaping Aztec and Spanish approaches to urban planning. Unlike the Aztec, who used causeways to adapt the city to its aquatic environment, Spanish colonizers employed European methods of hydraulic engineering to overcome New World nature. In addition to being a technical solution, this drainage project served a philosophical purpose: to secure a new historical genesis for Mexico City by rooting it in the history of European antiquity and classical architecture, and by emancipating it from Tenochtitlan's most iconic feature--water.
The Aquatic Metropolis is essential reading for scholars and students of environmental history, art history, urban studies, and Latin American studies. It shows that Mexico City's modern flood crises are not just contemporary problems but the outcome of cultural attitudes and decisions that have deep roots in the colonial past. Understanding this history offers critical tools for addressing the city's future amid climate change.

Info autore

John F. López is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of California, Davis.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: John F. López
• Editore: University Presses
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 31.03.2026
• EAN: 9780271100418
• ISBN: 978-0-271-10041-8
• Dimensioni: 229 mm x 254 mm x 23 mm
• Peso: 241 g
• Illustrazioni: Raster,schwarz-weiss, Raster, farbig
• Serie: Buildings, Landscapes, and Societies
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Arte > Architettura; HISTORY / Historical Geography, HISTORY / Latin America / Mexico, ARCHITECTURE / History / Renaissance, 15th century, c 1400 to c 1499, History of Architecture, History of the Americas, Historical Geography, ARCHITECTURE / History / Baroque & Rococo, ART / History / 1400-1600 C.E.