Urban sprawl and urbanization companies: the work of the Compania Madrilena de Urbanizacion, the Garden City Pioneer Company, the First Garden City Ltd e the Cia. City

Abstract

The aim of this article is to problematize the contemporary phenomenon of urban sprawl within the history of urbanism. This historiographic exercise was based on a critical analysis of the work of urbanization companies recognized as being foremost within the historiography of urbanism: the Compañía Madrileña de Urbanización, an urbanization company founded by Arturo Soria y Mata in order to implement his idea of a linear city; the Garden City Pioneer Company and the First Garden City Ltd, founded, respectively, to raise funds and to manage the construction of Letchworth, in the UK, the first ever constructed garden city, the theoretical scheme of which was conceived by Ebenezer Howard in 1889; and the City of São Paulo Improvements and Freehold Land Company Ltd, which implemented the first garden suburbs in São Paulo. The narrative on each company highlights the two urban concepts propagated by these companies, related to the idea of urban sprawl and to the business strategies developed in order to enable sprawl-related ventures.