Contents -- Authors' Note -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Primordial Sea: Forming Open Space in Mesoamerica -- Mesoamerican Concept of Space -- Mountains and Altepetls -- Caves, Quatrefoils, and Sunken Courts -- Types of Open Space in Mesoamerica -- Triad Centering -- U-shaped Courts -- Quadrangles -- Quincunx: Symbol of the Cosmos -- Ballcourts -- The Sunken Court of Teopantecuanitlán -- The Dallas Plaque: A Cosmogram -- 2. Forming Spanish Towns in Mesoamerican Culture -- People and Ideas -- The Invasion -- The Europeans Making Contact -- European Plazas in the Early Sixteenth Century -- Origins of the Plaza -- Building New World Towns -- Types of Towns -- First Acts and Encounters -- Laws of the Indies -- Conversion -- Quincunx Patios -- Relaciones Geográficas -- 3. Sixteenth-Century Communal Open Spaces (Five Hundred Years Later) -- Caves and Crevices -- Amecameca, State of México -- Zoquizoquipan, Hidalgo -- Valladolid, Yucatán -- Quincunxial Arrangements -- Atlatlahuacan, Morelos -- Huejotzingo, Puebla -- Huaquechula, Puebla -- Zacualpan de Amilpas, Morelos -- Terraced Mountains -- Molango, Hidalgo -- Achiutla, Oaxaca -- Yanhuitlán, Oaxaca -- Sunken Courts -- Tepoztlán, Morelos -- Tochimilco, Puebla -- Calpan, Puebla -- Ballcourts and Bullrings -- Villa Díaz Ordaz, Oaxaca -- Tlanalapa, Hidalgo -- Tepeapulco, Hidalgo -- Open Space Ensembles -- Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca -- Tlacolula, Oaxaca -- Otumba de Gómez Farías, State of México -- Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca -- Tepeaca, Puebla -- Etla, Oaxaca -- Bishop Quiroga's Utopias in Michoacán -- Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán -- Pátzcuaro, Michoacán -- Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán -- Erongarícuaro, Michoacán -- Angahuan, Michoacán -- Visible Overlays and Deliberate Alignments -- Mitla, Oaxaca -- Hacienda Xaaga, Oaxaca -- Teposcolula, Oaxaca -- Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca -- Epazoyucan, Hidalgo.

The Yucatán Experience -- Chapels, Yucatán -- Tibolón, Yucatán -- Izamal, Yucatán -- 4. Origins and Evolution -- Epilogue. Plazas in the Twenty-first Century -- The San Miguel Example -- Qualities of Successful Plazas -- Sprawl and the American Myth -- Appendix. Measured Drawings: Plans of Towns -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.