La fotografía aérea en México para el estudio de la ciudad: el crucero de El Caballito

Abstract

This article describes possible routes for research using aerial photographs, and focuses especially on the study of urban areas. The specific case considered is that of Mexico. After presenting a panorama 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 +was located there for nearly 150 years. We consider the aforementioned photographs of this location 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.