The linear city was an

urban plan Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

for an elongated urban formation proposed by

Arturo Soria y Mata Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920) was an internationally important Spanish urban planner whose work remains highly inspirational today. He is most well known for his concept of the Linear City (exemplified in Madrid's Ciudad Lineal). He studied t ...

in 1882. The city would consist of a series of functionally specialized parallel sectors. Generally, the city would run parallel to a river and be built so that the dominant wind would blow from the residential areas to the industrial strip. The sectors of a linear city would be: # a purely segregated zone for railway lines, # a zone of production and communal enterprises, with related scientific, technical and educational institutions, # a residential zone, including a band of social institutions, a band of residential buildings and a "children's band", # a park zone, # an agricultural zone with gardens and state-run farms (''

sovkhoz A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, abbreviated from ''советское хозяйство'', "sovetskoye khozyaystvo (sovkhoz)"; ) was a form of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted wit ...

y'' in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

). As the city expanded, additional sectors would be added to the end of each band, so that the city would become ever longer, without growing wider. The linear city design was first developed by

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

during the 19th century, but was promoted by the Soviet planner

Nikolay Alexandrovich Milyutin Nikolay Alexandrovich Milyutin, alternatively transliterated as Miliutin (russian: Николай Александрович Милютин, – 4 October 1942) was a Russian trade union and Bolshevik activist, participant in the October Rev ...

in the late 1920s. Milyutin justified placing production enterprises and schools in the same band with

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''

Ernst May Ernst May (27 July 1886 – 11 September 1970) was a German architect and city planner. May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during the Weimar Republic period, and in 1930 less successfully expor ...

, a famous

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

functionalist architect, formulated his initial plan for

Magnitogorsk Magnitogorsk ( rus, Магнитого́рск, p=məɡnʲɪtɐˈɡorsk, ) is an industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Its population ...

, a new city in the Soviet Union, primarily following the model that he had established with his

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

settlements: identical, equidistant five-story communal apartment buildings and an extensive network of dining halls and other public services.

References

{{Cities Urban geography Urban studies and planning terminology Constructivist architecture City layout models ca:Traçat lineal

See also

References