Expressions and Interpretations of a Local Urban Practice: Fraccionamiento Veracruz in Xalapa (1945-1965)

Abstract

Fraccionamiento Veracruz was the first modern, middle-class subdivision in Xalapa. Its construction, which began in 1945, represented a radical change in the way of inhabiting the urban environment by establishing previously-unknown relationships between housing and public space. Developed through a process of progressive urbanization over the course of at least two decades, its layout has changed little over time. The same  cannot be said of its primary structures, of which only a few important houses are left. By examining both historiographic sources and oral history, it is possible to reveal certain processes inherent to the way in which this subdivision is expressed and interpreted, making possible a local urban practice with singular characteristics and a consolidated, integrated image.