This conference proposes a critical reassessment of the role of large-scale housing estates in the construction of the contemporary city. A retrospective perspective makes it possible to acknowledge the historical value of functionalist ideas while, at the same time, questioning their relative validity in the present day. A prospective outlook addresses the urban regeneration challenges these urban fabrics entail, focusing on the quality of their open spaces, living conditions, and the risks of socio-spatial segregation.
The session is structured as a review of three recent research projects. The first is a PhD thesis, developed within the framework of the UR-HESP project (BIA2014-60059-R), which proposes a methodology for the multiscalar assessment of the quality of open spaces in housing estates in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza. The second concerns the experience of the Europan competition, where this research provides the basis for an informed intervention project in the Sudoeste del Besòs neighbourhood (Barcelona), testing scenarios for the physical regeneration of a strongly homogeneous and obsolete residential urban fabric. Finally, the research project Spatial Diversity expands the scope of reflection towards a comparison of different contemporary residential urban fabrics, understanding diversity as a necessary—though not sufficient—condition for urban resilience and for reducing social segregation within the city.
