Urban Representantion Systems In The Reinaissance: Context And Innovations In Leonardo Da Vinci`S Urban Models
Submitted: 2025-07-02
|Accepted: 2025-12-26
|Published: 2025-12-31
Copyright (c) 2025 Antonio Espínola Jiménez, Rubén López Cantero, David Hidalgo García

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Keywords:
City, urban design, Middle Ages, Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance, Representation Systems
Supporting agencies:
Abstract:
During the late Middle Ages and the early years of the Renaissance, the ways of representing cities in treatises and manuscripts evolved considerably. This change responded to the need to conceive urban design from a more planned perspective, based on increasingly elaborate technical models. Although perspective and orthogonal projection were already in use earlier, they were reinterpreted in the Renaissance with a more refined character. Some artists combined both approaches and used chromatic variations to reinforce altimetric and structural aspects of urban spaces. Leonardo da Vinci was an essential figure in this renovation. His codices and manuscripts reflect these innovations, which are studied here from the perspective of their contribution to urban representation, a field usually relegated to the background.
References:
Ackerman, J. 1977. The Madrid Códices Leonardo da Vinci Ladislao Reti. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 36, no. 1, p. 46-50. https://doi.org/10.2307/989156
Arévalo, F. 2003. La representación de la ciudad en el Renacimiento: levantamiento urbano y territorial. Madrid: Fundación Caja de Arquitectos. ISBN: 8493254266.
Braun, G., & Hogenberg, F. (1572–1617). Orbis terrarum civitates (6 vols.). Colonia: Sumptibus authorum. Digital archive of the University of Valladolid.
Bruschi, A. 1987. Bramante. Bilbao: Editorial Xarait. ISBN: 8485434366
Cataneo, P. 1554. I Quattro Libri dell`architettura. Digital archive of the University of Seville.
Chías, P. 2009. La Cartografía histórica en el estudio de la construcción del territorio y el paisaje. Mapas y dibujos de pleitos civiles en la baja Edad Media y en el Renacimiento. Revista EGA, no. 14, p. 50-59. https://doi.org/10.4995/ega.2010.1004
Coppo, D. 2010. Rilievo urbano. Firenze: Alinea Editrice. ISBN: 9788860555366
De Seta, C. (1996). Città d’Europa : iconografia e vedutismo dal XV al XVIII secolo. Naples: Electa. ISBN: 8843556045.
Di Giorgio Martini, F. 1841. Trattato di architettura civile e militare, vol. 3. Turín: Chirio e Mina.
Docci, M. 1987. Il rilevamiento architettonico. Storia, metodi e disegno. Bari: Editori Laterz, p. 75-78. ISBN: 8842090689.
Elliot, J. 1987. The City in maps: urban mapping to 1900. London: British Library. ISBN: 0712301348
Fara, A. 2014. L’arte della scienza : architettura e cultura militare a Torino e nello Stato Sabaudo 1673-1859. Leo S. Olschki. ISBN: 9788822263056. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1tqx843
Franchetti, V. 1985. Historia del urbanismo: siglos XIV y XV. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de Administración Local. ISBN: 8470883909
Heydenrich, L. 1975. “Leonardo ingeniero militar”, in Reti, Ladislao, ed. Leonardo desconocido. Madrid: Taurus, p. 80-130. ISBN: 8430697683
Hidalgo, D. & Santiago, J.M. 2016. Historia de la Morfología urbana. Granada: AVICAM. ISBN: 9788416535514.
Lotz, W. 1985. La arquitectura del Renacimiento en Italia: Estudios. Madrid: Editorial Hermann Blume. ISBN: 8472143236.
Mancini, M. 1979. Urbanística rinascimentale a Imola da Girolamo Riario a Leonardo da Vinci. Imola: Edizione Galeati.
Mila, M. Á. 2006. Leonardo: Diseñador del futuro. Conferencias arquitectura y naturaleza. Madrid: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, p.1-8.
Moreno, E. 1991. Las ciudades ideales del Siglo XVI. Barcelona: Sendai S.L. ISBN: 8486762197.
Morris, A. 2018. Historia de la forma urbana desde sus orígenes hasta la revolución industrial. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili. ISBN:9788425230899
Oberhummer, E. 1909. Leonardo da Vinci the art of the Reinaissance un its relation to Geography. Geographical Journal, vol. 33, no. 5, p. 540-569. https://doi.org/10.2307/1777084
Pedretti, C. 1988. Leonardo Architetto. Milán: Edizione Electa. ISBN: 8843525190.
Scamozzi, V. et al. 2003. Vincenzo Scamozzi, Venetian Architect: The Idea of a UniversalArchitecture. Villas and Country Estates. vol. 3. Architectura & Natura Press.
Scolari, M. 2012. Oblique Drawing. A History of Anti-Perspective. MIT Press, Cambridge. ISBN: 8831786171.
Taglialagamba, S. 2010. Leonardo&L Arquitectura. Poggio A Caiano: CB Edizioni. ISBN: 9788895686202.
Vasari, G. 2013. Las Vidas de los más excelentes Arquitectos, Pintores y Escultores Italianos desde Cimabue a nuestros días. Madrid: Editorial Cátedra. ISBN: 9788437631684
Zollner, F. 2007. Leonardo da Vinci: obra pictórica completa y obra gráfica. Colonia: Taschen. ISBN: 9783822838259




