Streets and Open Spaces: Comparing Mobility and Urban Form at Angamuco and Chunchucmil, Mexico

Abstract

Angamuco and Chunchucmil are two of the few Mesoamerican cities with relatively complete street maps. These maps provide a rare opportunity to study how the bulk of the population moved through cities, how people worked together to organize a network of paths and open spaces, what kind of interactions these features afforded, and how they contributed to the formation of social identities. Having found that space syntax methods confirmed intuitive understandings without generating new findings, we apply a segment (paths) and node (intersections) analysis to both sites. With these analyses we recorded and characterized segment variables such as width, length, form, and curvature, and node variables such as size, form, and number of linked segments. Many of the nodes at both sites are open spaces, allowing us to register details about the configuration of shared public spaces that are less formal than monumental plazas. The analyses revealed neighborhood differentiation, local-level coordination of labor, and intentional efforts to create markets or spaces of assembly that may have complemented collective governance proposed for both sites. While Angamuco and Chunchucmil differ in terms of the general pattern of their pedestrian networks, they share similarities in terms of density of paths and types of intersections.

A Mesoamerican Urban Road Network: An Analysis of Pedestrian Pathways of Angamuco, Michoacán

“…These data are summarized in 14 combined categories of attributes related to their size, topography, topology, and architecture (Tables 1 and 2). Ultimately, I produced five categories for segments based on width, shape, slope, the experience of travel, and construction style (see Hutson and Solinis-Casparius 2022). Nodes were organized into four categories based on area size, connectivity (how many segments they connect), shape, and topology.…”

Settlement Scaling in the Northern Maya Lowlands: Human-Scale Implications

“…This increases the potential for social interaction. Chunchucmil also features an abundance of informal open spaces (as opposed to formal ceremonial plazas, of which there were also many), where people could have congregated (Hutson and Solinis Casparius 2022).…”