Linear Planning and the Automobile: Hilarión González del Castillo's Colonizing Motorway, 1927—1936

Hilarión González del Castillo (HGC) has made a place for himself in the history of urbanism as propagandist for the Linear City and theoretical town planner. The appearance of the first motorway projects in Spain at the end of the 1920s, inspired him to propose a colonising motorway, that would take advantage of the infrastructure for the construction of linear cities. HGC's proposal had influence in the draft of some of the first Spanish motorways but has practically disappeared until the present. While few town planners of the age considered the role of the automobile (Le Corbusier, Benton Mackaye), HGC explained the relation of the motorways with the environment, spotting conflicts that passed unnoticed by the highway engineers. From this, the proposal evolved into an attempt to resolve the conflict between the intercity traffic and the urban activities situated on the margins of the motorway.