Through the project for the foundation of three settlements in the current territory of Chihuahua, designed by Teodoro de Croix, it is possible to observe the Illustration ideals in the New Spain urban morphology of the last twenty-three years of the 18th century. This article studies the original document signed by Teodoro de Croix in 1777, from the points of view of history, geography and urban ideals of their time, in aim to reconstruct the settlements morphology. Thus, the reader will be able to understand the ordering of this border territory to be populated considering, on the one hand, the productive models of agriculture, commerce and industry, and on the other, the conditions of nature, hygiene and urban aesthetics. These concepts may well be understood inCroix's proposal, but how do we understand them architecturally? or even more, how do we understand them from the urban point of view? Even the manuscript in which Croix traces his project does not indicate the particular morphological characteristics of each settlement, three of them are analyzed: Namiquipa, Casas Grandes and San Juan Nepomuceno, comparing the original document with the information collected in field, bibliographic and digital work. These new towns were projected in a complex context: were designed to obtain asense of identity and belonging amidst soldiers, Apaches and other scattered settlers, and furthermore, to strength the routes and communication paths to look for safe conditions. For this reason, to the initial project were added another twenty-five towns that, placed in the current territory of Chihuahua, managed to establish and to order the territory.