Madrid: Urban reg
projects and social
mobilization q
ican
1 N
Madrid is undergoing powerful urban changes. As in other big cities, the economic and terri-
the urban projects implemented by the local and regional administrations as posing a danger
Introdu
In order
transfor
factor is
nineteen
f urban
ard, as
social
icularly
n renewal pro-
ns of the new
rous cities have
ges to their so-
years.
sibility
, have
led to the creation of various social movements,
united primarily by dissatisfaction with the emerg-
ing city model.
qThis arti
of Social
Kent at C
supported
(Programa
ense~nanza
would like
and suggestions. I would like to thank too the three anonymous
referees for their comments and remarks.
*Tel.: +34-965903795; fax: +34-965903495; e-mail: Fernando.
Diaz@ua.es.
Cities, Vol. 24, No. 3, p. 183–193, 2007
 2006 Elsevier Ltd.
All rights reserved.
0264-2751/$ - see front matter
www.elsevier.com/locate/cities
doi:10.1016/j.cities.2006.11.004cial and spatial structures over the last 20
The extent of these changes, and the impos
of participation in their planning and design
de estancias de profesores de Universidad en centros de
superior y de investigacio´n. Reference: PR2004-0374). I
to thank Professor Chris Pickvance for his commentsimportant.
This article examines major urba
jects, the most obvious manifestatio
urban intervention strategies. Nume
in this way made far-reaching chan
cle was written being a Visiting Lecturer at the School
Policy, Sociology and Social Research (University of
anterbury), academic year 2004/05. This stay was
by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Scienceto understand the nature and extent of the
mations undergone by cities, an essential
the economic restructuring initiated in the
seventies. From a social and spatial point
eral processes having a direct impact on la
and, in a more general way, on the contents o
planning policies (Marcuse, 2002). In this reg
sustained by Kesteloot (2004), a study of the
and spatial configuration of cities is partction of view, economic globalisation has given rise to sev-
nd useto urban projects implemented by the local and regional administrations as posing a danger to
urban segregation in the city. The article analyses social mobilization in a central neighbor-
hood where an ambitious urban regeneration project is being developed. Since 1997, a social
mobilization is in progress against a plan that could mean the first step of a gentrification pro-
cess. A very diverse set of social groups (immigrants associations, squatters, ONG, cultural
associations, etc.) joined to create the Red de Colectivos de Lavapie´s [add diacritical] (Lav-
apie´s, Groups Network). Over the last few years the evolution of the mobilization has favored
a process of convergence with other social organizations and, finally, they have developed a
critique of the overall transformation of Madrid, seen as excessively oriented towards middle
class consumption and the city’s tourist industry.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Urban regeneration, segregation, social mobilization, social changebecoming more segregated, with the recent evolution of the real estate industry one of the
key issues of the process. In this context, different social groups have understood some oftorial restructuring also means deep social changes. Madrid’s socio-spatial configuration isFernando Dı´az Orueta *
Departamento de Sociologı´a II, Universidad de Al
Received 8 January 2006; received in revised form
Available online 23 January 2007183eneration
te, Ap. Correos 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain
ovember 2006; accepted 12 November 2006

Theurban renewal project undertaken in the neigh-
bourhood of Lavapie´s (Madrid)1 is considered in
some detail. This was the most important project car-
ried out in the historic centre of Madrid, an area sub-
jected for over 10 years to an extensive process of
rehabilitation, with important social and spatial impli-
cations (Loure´s, 2003). It provoked a widespread
response in a very socially heterogeneous neighbour-
hood, with one of the highest percentage immigrant
populations in Madrid. The residents saw the project
as a first step towards gentrification. Gradually, the
protest groups created an urban discourse involving
alternative city models. These groups formed links
with other anti-globalisation protesters, defining their
movementwithin the context of the social and territo-
rial transformation of Madrid.
This analysis of the situation in Lavapie´s effectively
exposes the process of spatial re-structuring of the
turing. It is also a district in which to observe the con-
(Brenner and Theodore, 2004), we can even speak
of Neoliberal Urbanism, a model of urban develop-
ment adapted to neoliberal demands,2 in which the
State fulfils an essential role by creating the neces-
sary deployment conditions (legal, political, eco-
nomic, etc.) and promoting new forms of local
government.
Policy’’ (Swyngedouw et al., 2004:199):
Madrid: Urban regeneration projects and social mobilization: F Dı´az Oruetaditions under which a fragmented neighbourhood can
organise itself and deal with social mobilisation. Very
different groups with very different strategies have
participated in the resistance, from the okupa [squat-
ter] movement, with a clearly antagonistic political
orientation, to the traditional neighbourhood associa-
tion or newly founded NGOs.
Urban restructuring, city government and social
mobilisation
Major urban planning projects and the social and
spatial reorganisation of cities
Global economic restructuring processes favour a
certain city model. In the view of various authors
1 The case study forms part of a broader investigation project that
also examined other neighbourhoods (Proyecto ‘‘Exclusio´n social y
renovacio´n urbana. Nuevas estrategias de desarrollo local’’, Pro-
grama de Cooperacio´n Cientı´fica con Iberoame´rica del Ministerio
de Educacio´n, Cultura y Deportes de Espan˜a, an˜os: 2000–2003)
[Project ‘‘Social exclusion and urban renewal. New local develop-
ment strategies’’, Scientific Cooperation with Latin America
Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and
Sport, years: 2000–2003]. The author of this article was the
principal investigator. From the methodological point of view, the
investigation combined a review of secondary documents with a
field study based, fundamentally, on qualitative techniques. I
should like to thank M.L. Loure´s for providing access to the
contents of interviews carried out in Lavapie´s between 1999 and
2002 as part of the investigation ‘‘Patrimonio Histo´rico y Socie-
dad’’ [‘‘Historical Heritage and Society’’], financed by the Comu-
nidad Auto´noma de Madrid and the European Social Fund.city, especially its central area. The local and regional
authorities support a project which, they affirm, aims
to putMadrid and its surroundings in the best possible
conditions to compete in the European arena. How-
ever, a growing social opposition has questioned
some of the principal measures. Lavapie´s is thus
appropriate as a place to study at first hand new social
movements confronting the process of urban restruc-184‘‘While we agree that large-scale UDPs have indeed
become one of the most visible and ubiquitous urban
revitalization strategies pursued by city elites in
search of economic growth and competitiveness, we
also insist that it is exactly this sort of new urban pol-
icy that actively produces, enacts, embodies, and
shapes the new political and economic regimes that
are operative at local, regional, national, and global
scales’’
The strategic nature of these projects becomes
even clearer upon examination in the light of current
debate concerning the redefinition of scales. As sus-
tained by Jessop (2004), globalisation is closely
linked to processes that require different spatial
scales. Thus, the planning policies considered here
would form part of the strategies developed to con-
nect local and global spheres. In general terms, the
redefinition of scales favours growth of social
inequality, with the creation and extension of new
forms of poverty (Mingione, 1996) and increased ur-
ban segregation (Marcuse, 1998).
Major urban renewal projects are justified by the
public interest in recovering obsolete architectural
heritage (Couch et al., 2002) and, at the same time,
by the need to represent the so-called new econ-
omy and the differentiated consumption demands
of certain emerging sectors of the middle classes
(Zukin, 1998). It would seem that rehabilitated his-
torical sites contain distinctive elements that confer
prestige and a touch of distinction. This applies not
only to the rehabilitation of historical city centres,
as in the case examined here, but also to aban-
doned industrial zones, ports and old markets
located in old working class districts (Loure´s,
2002). In this way, certain strategic city areas are
gradually taken over and transformed, moving their
populaces to other spaces and increasing spatial
segregation.
Urban restructuring and social mobilisation
This model of urban development is provoking a
growing degree of social response (Smith, 1996;
2 As sustained by Harvey (2005), the globalisation process relies,
basically, on the expansion of neoliberal policies.In this respect, many major urban renewal pro-
jects promoted in recent years may be regarded as
another component of the neoliberal ‘‘New Urban