La ciudad balneario europea en el siglo XVIII y siglo XIX: laboratorio de pruebas del espacio público contemporáneo

Abstract

The European spa towns of the eighteenth and nineteenth century were developed through urban projects with common characteristics which allow us to recognize and define the parameters of urban heritage of European spa towns. This paper focuses on three of the more representative European spa towns, Marienbad, Vichy and Bath, in order to recognize and determine their common traits. The identification of common geological, geographical and environmental qualities of their territories, will let us to define them as spa-town territories. The evaluation of their urban processes will show us how these cities were developed through projects structured by their public spaces in which some new urban pieces appeared. These urban pieces will become distinctive features of the European spa towns of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The fact that spa towns had less compactness and consolidation than contemporary industrial cities, gave them more freedom to propose new solutions. The spa towns became testing laboratories of public spaces and experimented with proposals that turned into models for later urban reforms.