The emergence of spaces of control in early commercial capitalism: the Casas de Misericordia in sixteenth-century Spain

Abstract

In the late sixteenth century, the Spanish thinkers Miguel Giginta and Cristóbal Pérez de Herrera proposed a model for welfare reform based on the design of institutions in which the organization of space made possible new ways of imposing discipline. In these institutions, known as Casas de Misericordia, the relation between the disposition of space and the possibility to control and influence the will of individuals was studied. This new consideration of space had a profound influence on areas as diverse as urban development and penitentiary systems.