City planning in a revolution: Cuba, 1959–61

The general goal of city planning, as a profession and as an academic discipline, is to guide cities through continual conflicts created by the social and economic forces that support or oppose change. These conflicts are magnified during a political revolution, when a primary concern of city leaders and the supporting population is to determine which public policies will be preserved intact, which will be modified (and how), and which no longer serve the new conditions created by the revolution.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss events that took place during the first three years of the Cuban Revolution, 1959–62, in order to identify problems and opportunities that emerged due to the impact of new public policies upon city planning processes in the largest Cuban cities. Because these experiences are related to contemporary issues in education and professional practice, this analysis may be of special interest to institutions and professionals in Hispanic American countries. This paper has been written de memoire. It is my personal review of events in which I took part and of related circumstances. It is, in certain ways, similar to an oral history of events of this period. An annotated bibliography is included for readers interested in specific aspects discussed in the paper.

Notes

Felipe J. Prestamo is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Miami. He was educated at the University of La Habana, (Architect), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. (Master in City Planning), and the University of Florida, Gainsville, FL. (Doctor of Education). His research interest is the architecture of the city.