An analysis of the small planned towns built for the workers of the Badajoz Plan dams in Spain

ABSTRACT One of the most interesting urbanistic ensembles of the twentieth century in Spain is the towns planned and built near the large dams to provide services for their construction and operation. In the Province of Badajoz four very large dams were built by the central administration, which also promoted the construction of workers’ towns in the surrounding area. These towns are unique components of the rural Extremadura landscape. Without them, the dams could not have been built in the Spain of Franco’s dictatorship, and they are a testimony to action carried out in the territory, how work was organized and how the integrating relationship of buildings and nature was understood as a particular conception of the landscape. This article first reviews the historical context, both from the point of view of planned urbanization concerning company towns and the Badajoz Plan itself. The villages are describe based on field visits and documents found in the AGA archives in Alcala de Henares and the offices of the Guadiana Water Board in Mérida; lastly, the data are analysed, and some conclusions are arrived at.