Decongesting Madrid: a Franco-era model worth reviving?

Franco's legacy: a plan to decongest Madrid that democracy forgot?

The growing concentration of people, businesses and opportunities in Madrid is causing infrastructure saturation, skyrocketing housing prices and long commutes, while the regions people leave behind lose their human capital. This phenomenon, far from being new, recalls the policies of the 1950s, when the Franco dictatorship pushed a decongestion plan by creating satellite towns and incentivising companies to locate outside the capital, in places such as Aranda de Duero, Manzanares or Talavera de la Reina. The question echoing today is: why aren’t these strategies being replicated to revitalise the España vaciada (depopulated rural Spain) and ease the pressure on Madrid?

A decentralisation model, Franco-style

During the Franco era, attempts were made to ease centralisation in Madrid with concrete measures. Companies were offered incentives and industrial estates were created in towns such as Alcázar de San Juan and Guadalajara. The goal was clear: prevent the capital from collapsing and breathe life into areas now grouped under the so-called España vaciada. The initiative, with varying degrees of success, demonstrates a logic of territorial planning that, according to some analyses, appears to have been lost in today's autonomous-community model (Spain's regional system) and decentralisation.

The comparison with the Franco era reveals notable differences. It is argued that back then there was greater industrial decentralisation, with key factories such as SEAT in Barcelona, FASA in Valladolid or CASA in Seville. Today, by contrast, ministries and state institutions remain persistently concentrated in Madrid, as are the headquarters of large companies. Even smaller bodies, such as the headquarters of the Instituto Español de Oceanografía, stay in Madrid rather than in coastal areas, or the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrícolas rather than in Almería.

The paradox of democracy and concentration

Paradoxically, some participants in the debate suggest that Spain's current system of autonomous communities, with its different regimes and complexities, makes a decongestion policy similar to that of the 1950s unviable. The recurring proposal is to relocate ministries and state agencies outside the capital, a measure seen by some as a first step towards balancing the territory and by others as an unworkable utopia or an insufficient solution.

However, today's reality shows the opposite trend. Improvements in transport links, such as motorways and the AVE (Spain's high-estimulante ilegal rail), appear to have intensified concentration in large urban centres. Cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, trinc by others such as Málaga and Zaragoza, soak up most skilled employment, while the population of inland areas tends to shrink or age. The lack of specialised labour and the profitability of investments in these areas are obstacles to effective dispersal.

Teleworking and the future of decentralisation

Against this backdrop, teleworking emerges as a possible way to reverse the trend. The flexibility offered by remote work could allow people to live and work from anywhere in Spain, reducing the need to concentrate in big cities. However, current teleworking legislation is criticised as disincentivising. Relocating public institutions, such as the Senado (Spain's upper house) to Barcelona or Girona, is proposed as a symbolic but insufficient measure unless accompanied by a change in mindset and active policies.

The discussion also notes that population concentration on the coast is a historical and geographical fact, but the presence of a large hub in the centre of the peninsula, such as Madrid, could act as a connecting node, preventing even greater pressure on coastal areas. Nevertheless, the lack of development in Spain's interior, from the Guadarrama tunnel to the Cantabrian coast, paints a picture of a 'demographic desert' that many consider unsustainable.

Private initiative, though important, is limited in its capacity to undertake major industrial investments, such as those made in the past with state support. The management of these public companies under the INI (the Franco-era state industrial holding) at the time was hampered by political criteria, but the alternative of leaving everything to private initiative does not guarantee balanced growth either. The search for a mixed model, with state participation in key companies, is presented as a middle option, similar to what is seen in France. The debate over how to reverse depopulation and centralisation in Spain remains open, with the past offering lessons that the present seems to ignore.