The informal urbanisation of Madrid's periphery: A spontaneous answer to the housing problem. The case of La Prosperidad (1860-1930)

Abstract

Facing the need for housing, particularly strong in the first third of the 20th century, the informal urbanisation of Madrid's periphery, officially not qualified for urban extension, holds an essential role in the absorption of the growing population and in the housing of lower-class households. The analysis of the production process of housing in the periphery shows the specificities of this market - amongst which, the important adaptation ability of the constructions to the general circumstances of the market and the particular ones of the owners. These explain the important role of lower class in the production of housing aimed to themselves, how this process was sometimes the vector of social ascension for its actors and produced a complex local society, unified by strong links. Looking at the informal urban growth of the extrarradio as the actual response to the lower-class housing problem, helps understanding the authorities" attitude towards it, tolerance without support.