Francisco Javier González’s lecture “New Perspectives for Urban Regeneration in Madrid” accomplished something significant – to truly inform the layman. It helped unravel an understanding that we all have about human living in cities that we never imagine we had.
An initiative of the Faculty of Architecture, this lecture was meant to enlighten students and interested parties about Madrid as a prime example of urban crisis, from a most accurate source, a visiting associate professor from the Universidad Europea de Madrid(UEM).
The lecture was presented as urban developments throughout time, starting at 1868 when 15% of urban dwellings were established in Madrid. The period 1900 to 1959 marked post-war influence growth, with welfare state politics shaping the urban structure, and from 1960 to 1975 changes in land law were felt, where the urban growth machine depended on families’ salaries versus previous times. These years up until the mid-1990s brought social housing, which plays a significant role in urban housing.
It was after these transformations that Madrid started getting ‘fat’, as González explained it. He pointed out that a city getting ‘fat’ is different from growth, as the former is where there is expansion without provision of necessities. The fattening of Madrid was shown to be attributed to international influence, such as tourism, on the local economy and bad practices in urban design, such as unnecessary roadways. Over the last five years, with the global economic climate as it is, a production peak was followed by a crash of the urban growth machine with an almost 90% decrease in activity in only two years.
But really González’s real contribution was a verifiable description and assessment of the current situation in. He brought with him a true understanding of the beat and bustle of the city, having been a long time resident. From 2013 and onward, what is to be done with urban crisis issues? For a fat Madrid, sustainable urban regeneration focusing on energy savings and water recycling are crucial. For the social issues local government is battling, new tools that fully assess sociodemographic and socioeconomic vulnerabilities are pivotal in finding a solution.
The last critical issue to be brought up was ghost developments. As in other European cities, these unfinished and yet sparsely populated areas are too new to be destroyed, but bring with them a whole range of problems like abandonment and disconnection. They are monuments of investment failures on the part of government and private stakeholders. This is the conundrum that González leaves the audience with.
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