SPATIAL LEGAL HISTORY OF SPANISH MEDITERRANEAN GEOGRAPHY: THE LAST PHASE OF FRANCO’S REGIME, 1959–1975

abstract

The urban transformation of the Mediterranean coast constitutes a critical historical phenomenon. Especially representative is the process that took place in Spain in the latter years of Francisco Franco’s regime (1959–1975). Tourism, alongside foreign investment and emigration, were the drivers behind Spain’s economic miracle, paving the way towards a successful democratic transition. Although a topic of primary interest, this latter period has generally been overlooked by academics. The article presents a spatial history that explores the characteristics of Franco’s economic and development policies, and their impact on Spain’s geography. It demonstrates how the coastline developed into a discontinuous landscape, made up of a collection of self-sufficient complexes. New tourist centers, historical markers structuring the coastal corridor, altered the character of the landscape. The research provides a missing dimension to Spanish historiographies of this period, lending perspective to broader debates on historical geography, and, more generally, to the dynamics of development.

Keywords:

• Mediterranean development
• Spain’s coastal transformation
• tourism legislation

Notes

1. Two additional Economic and Social Development plans were approved in 1969 and 1972.

2. Data facilitated by the architect Ángel Asenjo Díaz in an interview in 2017.