When residents appropriate the street: Management and conflict over public space in Francoist open block fabric in Madrid (Spain)

Unauthorized practices in relation to the public space often help shape the urban landscape in many sectors of the city to a greater extent even than official planning. Knowing the origins, development and motivations behind such practices, as well as their implications for the use and management of public space and the conflicts generated is essential to understand their role in the public space and define new, more creative formulas for their governance. This study explores such issues in four open block housing estates built in Madrid during Franco’s regime and reveals how deficiencies in the design of their public spaces and conflicts over their management and maintenance have led citizens to act as amateur urban planners, taking action with regard to the public space by means of numerous unauthorized acts of differing nature, origin, spatial logic and management. The positive effects of these actions, such as improvements in gardening and accessibility, as well as their negative effects, such as pedestrian disconnections or privatizations, and the new conflicts they have sparked with other residents and with governmental organizations regarding the use and management of such spaces show the impact of these practices on the development of public space in open block housing estates. In conclusion, this article clarifies the complexity of the situation generated by these acts, focusing on their implications for urban design and showing their relevance in defining the identity of these estates and the configuration of their landscapes.