What Kind of City Will Humanity Need? Exploring Amancio Williams' Proposal for a Linear CitySave this picture!Perspective drawing for La ciudad que necesita la humanidad, Argentina (circa 1983-1989). Coloured pencil on paper (47,8 × 62,6 cm). Amancio Williams fonds. Canadian Centre for Architecture. Gift of the children of Amancio Williams. Image © CCAThrough his unbuilt projects, built works, and research, Amancio Williams's ideas emerge as the result of a deep understanding of the most advanced trends of his time reflecting on architectural design, urbanism and city planning. By exploring various themes, concepts, and even materials, he aims to create a personal universe that interprets the present as something future-oriented, both international and distinctly Argentine. His proposal "La ciudad que necesita la humanidad" presents linear and layered buildings raised 30 meters above ground, incorporating everything from office spaces to roads and magnetic trains on different levels of a single structure. The Amancio Williams archive at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal documents Williams' career as an architect and designer from the 1940s to the late 1980s. The fonds documents his work for over 80 architectural, urban planning and design projects, as well as the administration of his architecture practice and his professional activities. Including drawings and sketches, presentation models, photographic materials, such as photographs of models, finished project (when realized), reference images, photographic reproduction of plans, and site photographs, the archive is available to consult offering more details.Rooted in his personal concerns and inquiries, Williams's work intersects multiple evolving issues, aiming to both enrich and solidify the local architectural culture while also imagining new worlds, cities, and forms of architecture. Engaging in dialogue with peers and within a specific historical context, he developed his ideas around various urban and architectural debates. The concept of a linear city occupied him for over a decade toward the end of his life. Save this picture!During a time of major change in how cities related to transportation—when railroads and automobiles were reshaping the network of connections across distant areas—urban planning began to adress these shifts by considering a new type of spatial organization where development along land routes would prevail, believing that transportation required new standards that would lead to a new kind of city. In "Las ciudades actuales", Amancio Williams sought to introduce the art and science of modern architecture and urbanism, emphasizing the dysfunction of cities developed during the 19th century. He claimed that the root of the problem lay within the cities themselves, and that modern urban planning could solve the crisis by organizing space, freeing up the ground, and applying modern architectural methods and technologies. In his text "La ciudad que necesita la humanidad (1978)", he outlined how future cities should be planned, based on routines, human knowledge, free ground, the use of automobiles, preliminary studies, pioneers, new cities, linear development, key factors—and, at that point, a focus on the South. Related Article 5 Modern Houses Designed by Amancio Williams That Were Never Built In response to his critique of Buenos Aires's urban growth in recent years, Williams argued that the right path to urbanization was through the linear city and the liberation of ground space. He drew from a range of precedents and modern architectural designs. The first precedent of a linear city came from Soria y Mata, a Spanish engineer from the late 19th century. Later, Williams connected with Reginald Malcolmson's "Metro-Linear City," which he helped promote in Argentina, and also found affinity with Le Corbusier's "Plan Obus" for Algeria.Save this picture!Between 1974 and 1989, Williams dedicated himself to developing and promoting his linear city vision under the name "La ciudad que necesita la humanidad", a model offering comprehensive conditions for human settlement. In a letter to Magdalena Nelson H. de Blaquier dated July 2, 1984, he acknowledged that the title had a promotional purpose: "This phrase is a slogan I created for the theme of humanity's habitat. It's clear in all languages—'La ville de l'aquelle a besoin l'humanité', 'The city that humanity needs', 'Die Stadt das Die Welt nötig hat'." "Cities must return to people what they have taken from them: light, air, sun, the enjoyment of space and time, what is essential for both physical and mental health. They must give back the hours now wasted unpleasantly in transport, hours that could be used for work, rest, or pleasure. Providing humanity with the city it truly needs, establishing rational and human-centered planning by applying our knowledge and today's vast resources—this must be both the goal and foundation of a new political vision." — Extract from the description of "La ciudad que necesita la humanidad", published by Amancio Williams Archive. The proposed city design left the ground surface open for agriculture and production, establishing a structure capable of rising above the existing urban fabric. Starting 30 meters above the ground, it was divided into three main sectors and made up of reinforced concrete frame structures. From the bottom up, the first frame would house service pipes for the renewal of water used. The residential units would be grouped into ten sections, each consisting of seven-story buildings arranged around plazas measuring 25 meters wide, 25 meters high, and 60 meters deep. The sides of these plazas would be made of a mix of glass and plastic. Above the residences, service areas supporting the housing zone would be placed. This entire lower sector would span 200 meters in width.Save this picture!The middle sector was intended for internal vehicular traffic, integrated with elevator cores. Given the expected gradual replacement of cars by magnetic trains, this section would be around 160 meters wide. At the top, the city would feature zones dedicated to work, including administration, services, and industrial markets, while large factories would remain on the ground level. This layout aimed to eliminate the physical separation between residential and work areas by bridging the gap between levels. It also sought to reconcile urban and rural life, offering the possibility to plow or grow wheat directly beneath the city.In response to the chaos and uncontrolled growth of contemporary cities, Williams emphasized the need to introduce order—an order that, as he wrote in a letter to Jerzy Soltan, "can only be achieved through the proper application of knowledge to human life". He believed this required a multidisciplinary approach. Throughout the project, he collaborated with numerous individuals, particularly from academia, who contributed research frameworks and the help of their students.Save this picture!From the outset, Williams's urban vision was grounded in four core principles: linear development, open ground, the creation of a spatial architecture, and the integration of that architecture (avoiding disconnected buildings). As Luis Müller explains in "Amancio Williams. La invención como proyecto", Williams estimated that a single linear development stretching from La Plata to Escobar—over 150 kilometers and encompassing Gran Buenos Aires—could accommodate 25 million residents. Each person would have 18.5 square meters of residential space, along with integrated functions necessary for urban life, including sports and recreational areas, plus aviation infrastructure such as runways and helipads at the top. As Malcolmson once remarked, this would be a megastructure "with cross-sections reaching up to ¡600 meters in height and 200 meters in width! [...] The concept was both astonishing and intimidating: a continuous city stretching from La Plata to Iguazú Falls on the Brazilian border—roughly 1,500 kilometers long."Save this picture!According to Luis Müller's doctoral thesis, Williams's approach was based on a universal model: a massive object designed to move across different geographies, climates, and human contexts. However, this idea began to feel outdated during the 1970s and 1980s, as it ignored the rising criticism of modernist urbanism coming from voices like the Team X group in the 1960s. These critiques emphasized participatory urban planning and rejected imposing totalizing models of city design. Around the same time, several futuristic formulations for cities emerged where mobility and flexibility were the main factors of change, such as those of Ron Herron (Walking City, 1964), Peter Cook (Plug In City, 1964) and Johana Mayer (Instant City, 1969), among other proposals by Archigram and others.Save this picture!Throughout his life, Williams believed that modern architecture and urban planning held the key to solving the issues caused by unchecked urban growth. He saw linear development as the most efficient and natural approach because it lifted the city off the ground, preserving the natural landscape and transforming the surface into parkland. He imagined buildings connected by broad walkways, allowing people to walk on green ground while vehicles moved along elevated roads. He also envisioned that taller buildings would create higher density within a smaller footprint, making cities more compact and efficient.Critically reflecting on human life and the systems we've created, this Modern Movement architect believed transformation was essential. He argued that humanity's core issue was the "disproportion, disconnection, and even conflict between the vast achievements of scientific knowledge and the way human life is organized." While opinions about Williams's linear city are varied and sometimes contradictory, it prompts important questions: What kind of future did this city envision—or should it envision? Why should we rely on a single architectural and urban planning solution for the evolving needs of humanity and space, when countless alternative approaches can coexist and prove just as valid?Save this picture!Without a doubt, Amancio Williams's legacy—and his many unbuilt projects—continues to influence generations worldwide. His work provides a lasting foundation from which to explore, challenge, and redefine the architectural responses to the complex issues of contemporary life. Following the CCA's recent acquisition of Amancio Williams's archive, the 2023–2024 Out of the Box exhibition series was dedicated to the architect's work (1913-1989), in which three guest curators—Studio Muoto, Claudia Schmidt, and Pezo von Ellrichshausen—presented new and expanded readings of Williams's work within the Latin American context and beyond, situating the social, environmental, and political dimensions of his practice within the contemporary architecture scene. In addition, the CCA published AP205 Amancio Williams: Readings of the Archive by Studio Muoto, Claudia Schmidt, and Pezo von Ellrichshausen (CCA, Spector Books, 2024, available in English and Spanish), offering alternative perspectives on Williams's work. Image gallerySee allShow less About this authorAgustina IñiguezAuthor••• Cite: Agustina Iñiguez. "What Kind of City Will Humanity Need? Exploring Amancio Williams' Proposal for a Linear City" 21 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028187/what-kind-of-city-will-humanity-need-exploring-amancio-williams-proposal-for-a-linear-city&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream