ABSTRACT
Between the years 1936 and 1939 Spain was torn apart by a civil war that took the lives of over 400,000 soldiers and civilians. The Franco regime's conception of urban space was greatly influenced by its oppressive social and ideological outlook. This chapter explores the relationship between the spatial practices of the Franco regime and its mechanisms of repression. The author claims that the dictatorship embraced urban space as a focal point of accelerated economic growth and instituted a policy that drew industry, services and capital into the city. In structural terms the National or General Plan of Reconstruction expressed a highly organic vision of the Spanish State. The chapter discusses the 1956 Land Law and 1957 Social Emergency Plan. The final decade in the history of the dictatorship was marked by two trends of urban planning: the formulation of long-term, regional development plans and an increased reliance on private developers and private capital in the field of housing.
