Reordenar la ciudad. Policía urbana, orden público y control social en Madrid del Sexenio Democrático

Abstract

Despite the plethora of its available studies at local level, the historiographic production on the Democratic Sexennial presents significant gaps in terms of Madrid’s evolution. This article will seek to cover some of those gaps by focusing on the study of the dynamics that the local authorities of that city, subject to a democratising experience, developed throughout that period. Based on the research of the urban police documentation of Madrid City Council between 1868 and 1873, we will delve into the intervention policies of a municipal government renewed in its ideals, in relation to the change of scale that Madrid had reflected during the last decades of the monarchical era. More specifically, we will study the local initiatives concerning the implementation of good governance mechanisms in the city. Mechanisms that, in fact, covered up the attempt to reconfigure the urban space, in order to make it more legible and transparent with regard to its uses and social practices on a daily basis.