Madrid: Urban regeneration projects and social mobilization

Madrid is undergoing powerful urban changes. As in other big cities, the economic and territorial restructuring also means deep social changes. Madrid’s socio-spatial configuration is becoming 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 of the urban projects implemented by the local and regional administrations as posing a danger to 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 neighborhood 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 process. A very diverse set of social groups (immigrants associations, squatters, ONG, cultural associations, etc.) joined to create the Red de Colectivos de Lavapiés [add diacritical] (Lavapiés, 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.