Twentieth Century Ordinary Architecture as Cultural Heritage: The Case of Three Social Housing Neighborhoods in Madrid

Abstract

The construction of the legitimacy of social housing neighborhoods built in the second half of the 20th century as ordinary and qualitative heritage, calls for measures for their safeguard and renewal. These neighborhoods are innovative both from an architectural and an urban perspective, however they are also submitted to real estate speculation processes due to their central location, to degradation processes derived from inhabitantsÍ€™ interventions, or even insufficient or inadequate functional renewal. The evolution of the concept of heritage regarding social housing neighborhoods is explained, as well as its adjustment to national-level and European regulations and practices. Lastly, the situation of MadridÍ€™s social housing neighborhoods as heritage is analyzed through the study of three case studies that are typical for the public housing built in the 1940Í€™s, 1950Í€™s and 1980Í€™s, from which general conclusions regarding MadridÍ€™s social housing neighborhoods can be extracted.