The origins of the network of public parks and gardens in Puebla. Access to green space from 1890 to the 1910 Centennial

Abstract

This article presents a preliminary research findings from the second chapter of the Master’s thesis in History titled “Administración, usos y reclamo social por el espacio público: el parque urbano en Puebla, de 1890 al Centenario de 1910”, which analyzes access to the controlled nature of the urban parks as a public space, as well as institutional support and social participation in their creation and management, as a factor of habitability. Therefore, through urban environmental history, this text aims to deepen the link between the logging of nearby forests, failed reforestation policies, and the distribution and increase of urban green areas in Puebla. For this purpose, documentation from the Municipal Historical Archive of Puebla is used as a primary source, which has not been considered in other studies, thus addressing a gap in the city’s history regarding the study of the park as a network. Thanks to this, it was found that federal, state, and municipal authorities were concerned about environmental damage and climate change caused by forest exploitation. Likewise, the park became an equidistantly distributed facilities due to its distribution toward the city’s periphery in the four cardinal directions, while also functioning as an aesthetic resource to improve the city’s image; as a result, the funds allocated to this sector by the municipal government tripled during the period.