Utopia versus Urban Pragmatism in Spanish Cities in the 21st Century: Sustainability, Renovation and Regeneration

Abstract

As a consequence of the economic and housing crisis of the first decade of the 21st century, all the urban systems have seen the limitless urban growth model fail, while the economic, social and environmental problems have multiplied. Some different models, half way between utopian and pragmatic, have been discussed as possible solutions. Following an initial approach to the similarities and differences between the urban dystopias and utopias of the 19th and 20th centuries, a reflection is offered concerning the meaning of the latter in Spanish cities over the first two decades of the 21st century. To this end, in the following sections, the pioneering and incipient character of the urban utopias, which we have called intelligent and sustainable, have been compared with the maturity and pragmatism of the old, conventional socio-urbanistic solutions, whether they embrace renovation through dispossession or integration through regeneration operations.