Angela GARCÍA CARBALLO, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Spain
Gonzalo MADRAZO GARCÍA DE LOMANA, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Spain
Ester SÁEZ POMBO, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Spain
Areas of high environmental values have been observed as desirable settings for the residence of choice of the upper classes. It has been identified in several cities globally, such as in the west urban periphery of Madrid, Spain. The urbanisation process of forestlands in Madrid´s western periphery is also characterised by affecting large ownership, which were previously in public hands. Currently, most of these forests have become privatised due to the pressure held by the elites during the nineteenth century, and some of them were partially urbanised during the twentieth century.
This paper addresses the origin and the process of this appropriation, as well as its urban development, and it also portrays the tension between the privative use of it and its value as an environmental resource in metropolitan city planning. At present, this tension has shifted because some of the forestlands have returned to public ownership through purchases, disposals or agreements. Consequently, these are now run by local councils of the metropolitan area of Madrid, which in the last years have managed to limit their public use to the population that lives in this residential area, in this case, wealthy classes.
This communication aims to identify the different trajectories of these forests (privatisation, urbanisation, and acquisition or planification by public authorities), to establish a comparison of their uses, a typology of their dynamics and to portray the different forms of tension between private and public uses. On this basis, urban poor communities are excluded and alienated from these areas. For this matter, it is necessary to analyse this discrimination as a lack of spatial justice in the city and to contrast these situations with prestigious ideas such as 15-minute cities and the protection of nature.
Mots clés : Segregation|Madrid|urban periphery|forestlands|appropriation
A105075AG