This book follows on from ‘Los orígenes de una metrópoli industrial: la Ría de Bilbao’ (Fundación BBVA, 2001), which describes the first wave of industrialization around Bilbao and its estuary starting in 1876. It takes up the story with an analysis of the 1940-1975 period, such that both publications cover the area’s development over the span of a century.

Its first volume, ‘Segunda industrialización, inmigración y capital humano’, explores the human aspect of this transformation by reference to both macro variables (the demographical transition, birth and death rates, migration flows, the labor force and human capital) and micro variables to do with the individual, the family and gender differences.

The second volume, ‘Infraestructuras’, espacio y recursos, examines the rival claims for space of homes, factories and infrastructures. This means looking in depth at town planning and zoning policies, the forces competing for the use and control of the land, the provision of basic services like water and housing and environmental concerns.

This publication will be of interest to historians, geographers, economists, demographers, architects, town planners and other social science specialists, as well as the general reader keen to learn more about the role the estuary has played in Bilbao’s development and in shaping the face of today’s Basque Country.