During the 19th century, iron was considered by many people, one of the quintessential symbols of modernity; and to say "modernity" in Western Europe at that time, was as much as talk about civilization. But before that attitude manifested, had to develop certain signs that advanced as unanimous observation. Such signals were flourishing parallel to the momentous changes that took place in the political, economic and social fields between the final years of the 18th century and first half of the 19th. Changes that, eventually, shaped a renewed ideological framework where the experience of architecture and modern engineering could have a place.

Abstract

This doctoral thesis shows an analysis of fluvial landscape evolution from multiple perspectives on the banks of Tagus and Jarama rivers, around Aranjuez. The thesis contemplates and combines natural features, such as hydrological, geomorphological and ecological features, as well as cultural features, like hydrological regulation and water management, interventions in channels and margins, changes in ownership and land use changes, mainly.

This analysis has allowed to identify the factors system, dynamic and complex, that this landscape has created, as well as the interrelationships, connections, constraints and dependencies among considered landscape descriptors. For example, we have studied the relationships observed among fluvial dynamics- land ownership -conservation status, issues not addressed, assessed or quantified up to now in other works about this area.

The research is organized into three major phases that led to the paper's central chapters (Chapters 2, 3 and 4). First, there has been a characterization of the factors, both natural and cultural, that organize the landscape of this predominantly fluvial area (geomorphology, climate and hydrological factors, vegetation, land and cultural elements of landscape significance). Then, it was made to study of fluvial landscape evolution by analyzing various elements previously identified and characterized. Aerial images were processed for five series and several old maps, obtaining an extensive database, that has been analyzed statistically. Finally, we have contrasted the partial results obtained in the previous chapters, making it possible to identify causal relationships between the factors that organize the landscape and the evolution of the elements that constitute it. This working method has been very useful for understanding the operation and evolution of a complex system, as the landscape of the Vega de Aranjuez, a territory with deep and ancient cultural interventions where anyway, nature feature always lies.

It is possible that the main contribution of this work, also its most prominent difference compared with other studies of landscape, has been to show a complete and exhaustive view of all factors involved in the formation and evolution of the fluvial landscape, highlighting the relationships established among them. This approach could have an interesting applied facet, so that is a very useful tool for designing management plans on this river territory. Not surprisingly, a substantial part of the valley of the Tagus-Jarama in Aranjuez is a Site of Community Importance (SCI) and their subsequent and inevitable declaration as Special Area of Conservation (SAC) of the Natura 2000 network, in accordance with the provisions Directive 92/43/EC, requires the development of a management plan that largely could draw on what was presented, analyzed and interpreted in this paper. In this regard, it should be noted conscience and assumed to consider, on the inclusiveness of territorial reality, the landscape as a key element for the proper management of nature and territory. On the other hand, it is considered that the results of this thesis allow to propose measures for enhancement of outstanding scenery, which go well beyond the boundaries that currently the Cultural Landscape declared by UNESCO. In sum, the analysis of this river area made with the depth and breadth that enables working method can be used to design strategies that address the evolution of this territory in a line that guarantees global conservation landscape terms, heritage and ecological, also, allowing its use as a balancing economic, cultural or educational resource.

Abstract

Until recently, the 20th Century was shown in gardening historiography mainly as a void, with the odd exception made for icons such as Barragán and Burle Marx, and the very existence of a garden linked to Modern architecture was mostly negated. This situation was especially harsh regarding 20th Century Spanish gardening, which has neither ever been studied from an analytical point of view, nor geographically, stylistically or culturally classified. Although some specific cases, especially those of the first third of the century, boast an ample bibliography, for a large number of them (including works by landscapers, gardeners, nurserymen and architects as significant as García Mercadal, Zuazo, Sert, Moreno Barberá, Fisac, etc.) and for a collective understanding of them there is a marked lack thereof.

If the garden is to be understood as an architectural type, one may justly assert that Spanish gardens of the 20th Century, whether as a whole or specifically regarding any of their foremost examples, have not as yet been assessed form an architectural point of view, maybe due to their being perceived as secondary to the building itself. A work such as the one being undertaken here, that is, one which comprehends a study of layouts, of spatial and volumetric organizations, of the correspondence between form and function, of the relationship between the garden and its surroundings, and of theoretical constructs and their influence on actual works, is yet to be undertaken systematically regarding the Spanish case.

With this study some conclusions are obtained about the evolutionary lines of the Spanish garden throughout the century, its formal trends, its evolutionary periods and the variation of the uses, comparing the Spanish panorama with the European and international one. It focuses on the period of the Modern Movement, which study has always been given importance to buildings, without deepening the garden; In this way it is intended to complete the panorama of the 20th century architecture.

This PhD. thesis, underway at the School of Forestry, Technical University of Madrid, studies land use and development models in which the landscape is regarded as an opportunity factor.