Single-family housing and changing social profiles in former working-class areas: Madrid’s south-western suburban ring as case study

Abstract

In recent decades the development of the Madrid metropolitan region has been marked by a significant increase in urbanised land, which has expanded more than the effective population growth and demand. The traditional monocentric metropolitan model, which concentrated all the main activities in the capital city, has transformed and evolved towards a more deconcentrated pattern. Within this process, Madrid’s south-western suburban ring represents a notable example of these transformations. Formerly characterised by lower-class dormitory towns, its social fabric and land uses now reflect a new post-suburban reality in which single-family housing is included as an emerging dwelling type representative of the upscale imagery of a part of the middle class.

Keywords:

• Madrid metropolitan region
• single-family housing
• suburbia
• dormitory towns
• post-suburban
• terraced housing