Hygiene measures and plans for urban reform in the transition from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in main cities of the Province of Alacant

En el tránsito del siglo XIX al XX, la carencia de viviendas y el hacinamiento son los rasgos más característicos de las sociedades urbanas analizadas, con un corolario de afecciones sanitarias. Tal circunstancia pudo ser paliada mediante planes de urbanismo fundamentados en aspectos higienistas. No obstante, las reformas fueron siempre a remolque de pequeños intereses económicos. La conciencia crítica de urbanistas y pensadores se enfrentó a la inercia de los políticos y a la incapacidad de algunas sociedades de vislumbrar la configuración de una ciudad moderna, a partir de las estructuras pueblerinas en que vivían inmersas. Todo ello hizo que la respuesta a esas carencias acuciantes se viese siempre demorada o mal satisfecha.In the transition from the 19th to the 20th centuries the lack of dwellings and overcrowding are the most characteristic features of the urban societies analyzed, together with a corollary of health conditions. This problem was corrected urban plans based on aspects concerning hygiene aspects. However, the reforms lagged behind small economic interests. The critical awareness of urbanists and thinkers came up against the apathy of politicians as well as the fact that some societies were unable to discern the configuration of modern towns immersed, as they were, in village-like structures. Therefore, the solution to these acute shortenings always took a long time coming or when it did, was unsatisfactory