ABSTRACT
Like many other metropolitan areas, that of Madrid is widespread and delimited by towns of various densities. The old delimitations have remained and, if we wish to determine the area’s size and expansion, we can distinguish three concentric rings around the old city centre. The centre is formed by the seven central city districts, with a population of 910,000.1 It is composed mainly of the old city centre and the extension planned in the middle of the nineteenth century: the ‘ensanche’, sourrounded by a highway ring (M-30).
