A new master plan for the “gran Madrid Capital de España” after the Civil War

Abstract

As was the case in the allied dictatorships of Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany, the attempt to impose a new order in the urban region of the regime’s capital city was also an important issue of national concern in Franco’s Spain. Madrid was to become the new capital city of the New State (Nuevo Estado), an expression of the transformed socio-political conditions. The new Master Plan had thus to overcome some of Madrid’s chronic problems, such as a dramatic housing shortage among the poorest segments of society and the growth of informal settlements in the urban region. The intended solution was a “planetary system" (Comisaría General de Ordenación Urbana de Madrid, 1953) based upon strong separations between inner city and new satellite towns, as well as between urban and rural areas.

This paper critically discusses the proposed “new” order. Moreover, the contradictory manner of its implementation will be reflected upon. Looking back, there is an evident connection between the plan and the pre-war planning debate. From today's perspective, Madrid’s uncontrolled urban growth into the surrounding region throughout that period (1940s and 1950s) can be understood more so as a consequence of the particular production conditions of the time than as an outcome of the new Master Plan.