Using Aerial Photography to Study Mexico City: The El Caballito Circle

Lourdes Roca

doi:10.5334/ah.ci

Abstract

This article describes potential lines of research using aerial photographs, focusing particularly on the study of urban areas. The specific case considered is that of Mexico City. After presenting an overview of aerial photography in Mexico, we review the potential of this type of record as a primary source for research. The visual corpus analyzed is composed of about 30 aerial photographs taken between 1932 and 1978. They portray the urban space that is our object of investigation: a downtown intersection in Mexico City, known as el crucero de El Caballito (“the little horse intersection”) because an equestrian statue of Carlos IV stood there for nearly 150 years. We examine the collection of photographs taken at this site in order to demonstrate the methodological implications of working with aerial photographs of cities. The backdrop to this proposal is work on documentation, cataloguing and dissemination undertaken at the Laboratorio Audiovisual de Investigación Social (Audiovisual Laboratory for Social Research) at the Instituto Mora.

Highlights

Lourdes Roca*This article describes potential lines of research using aerial photographs, focusing on the study of urban areas
The city is a projection of the social relationships on the ground (Lefebvre 1978: 10).This article analyzes the use and usefulness of aerial photography as a research source in a study of transformations of an urban space in central Mexico City
I will examine their contributions and limitations compared to other types of photographic documents, as well as the methodological implications of their use

Summary

Lourdes Roca*

This article describes potential lines of research using aerial photographs, focusing on the study of urban areas. After presenting an overview of aerial photography in Mexico, I will review the potential of this type of record as a primary source for research. The visual corpus analyzed is composed of about 30 aerial photographs taken between 1932 and 1978. They portray the urban space that is our object of investigation: a downtown intersection in Mexico City, known as El crucero de El Caballito (‘the little horse intersection’) because an equestrian statue of Carlos IV stood there for nearly 150 years. We examine the collection of photographs taken at this site in order to demonstrate the methodological implications of working with aerial photographs of cities. The backdrop to this proposal is work on documentation, cataloguing and dissemination undertaken at the Laboratorio Audiovisual de Investigación Social (Audiovisual Laboratory for Social Research) at the Instituto Mora

Introduction

Findings

Translated by Margaret Schroeder