An urban design perspective of mass housing estates: Analyzing spatial accessibility over half a century in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mass housing estates are one of the main urban landscapes associated with postwar urban development in Western cities. Despite their historic and cultural value, they often suffer from urban obsolescence and require regeneration. Contrasting with the uniformity and similarity they were designed with, these such housing estates have evolved along disparate trajectories since their initial construction 50 years ago. Thus, based on a study using the UR-Hesp methodology to evaluate spatial accessibility—and how it reflects urban quality—in this paper, we employ a retrospective approach to discuss some key ideas regarding urban design strategies for housing estate upgrades. To explore the role of street network spatial accessibility in housing estate evolution, we evaluate where housing estates are located within their urban or metropolitan area (global integration), their relationship with their surrounding area (permeability) and the capacity of their inner spatial structures to promote pedestrian movement (local choice). The study involved 28 mass housing estates in the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza.