Widening comes from widening verb and used to name the areas of development of Spanish cities at the end of the nineteenth century, when the population explosion and the Industrial Revolution led to the demolition of the old wall of the city and construction of neighborhoods under plans of the network.
The city expansion program in Spain began simultaneously in 1860 with the plans of Barcelona by Ildefons Cerdá and Madrid by Carlos María de Castro, influenced by Haussmann's transformation of Paris from 1852 (and, in turn, it has been said that Han influenced by Haussmann). The tranches extended cities beyond their traditional borders by demolishing city walls, transforming banks, and subdividing "extramuros" (rural land outside city walls). The extensions were generally based on principles articulated by Cerdá.
These included reserving significant open space by requiring open space of the half-block blocks and the entire block. The height of the buildings was established by reference to the width of the adjacent street. Many of these requirements were modified and construction volumes increased, since 1864 (Madrid).
When population growth and new land-intensive activities, such as the railroad, forced growth out of the cities and the demolition of old walls that had lost all their military value and had only the fiscal function of customs. In many cases, this growth in mesh, projected and conceived to obtain a healthy city by and for the bourgeoisie, was distorted over time by speculation and as the city continued to grow, filling the entire urban network with new buildings and disappearing progressively Green spaces.
It is used specifically for:
- The expansion of Barcelona, designed by Ildefonso Cerdá.
- The expansion of the city of Valencia.
- The expansion in Palma, Mallorca.
- The expansion of the East of Madrid under the Castro Plan of Carlos María de Castro promulgated by Royal Decree in 1860.
- The expansion of Bilbao after the annexation of the old town of Abando.
