Urban integration or persistent enclaves?

Transformations in the perimeter of four housing estates in Zaragoza

Abstract

This work is part of a broader investigation on the housing estates built between the fifties and seventies of the 20th century in Spain. The perimeter turns out to be an essential element in them, as they are shaped as unitary formal fragments determined by a well-defined geometry. This paper analyzes, from the perspective of urban space, how the perimeter of these relatively autonomous pieces –unitary operations characterized by the repetition of isolated blocks in open planning over free spaces– has evolved. A perimeter that it is also in contact with a quite different urban fabric, that of the so-called 'ordinary peripheries' –gradual growths that adopt traditional systems based on streets and blocks– that were configured around the housing estates in the same period. The objective is to study the transformations that have occurred in the perimeter space of four housing estates located in Zaragoza, comparing, through graphic analysis, the situation at the time of its construction with the current state. Starting from a broad theoretical framework, this analysis aims to relate the various urban situations generated during these more than fifty years with concepts explored by different authors, such as limit, barrier, edge or seam. The result allows evaluating how, in some cases, the dissolution of the perimeter of these housing estates has favored processes of relative urban integration, while in others, its consolidation has contributed to the persistence of the initial status of enclave.