*3.1. Urban Policies and Large-Scale Projects Undertaken in Downtown Madrid*

The 1990s witnessed a political swerve in Madrid towards conservative administrations at both municipal and regional government levels that remained in power without interruption for the next 25 years and carried out a number of large-scale urban projects in the central area of the city, adhering strictly to the neoliberal model. During this period a political–financial–entrepreneurial bloc was consolidated, which was to play a key role in the evolution of the city and the region of Madrid as a whole. Other factors concurred that were favourable for the urban model adopted. The huge array of fiscal and budgetary competences assumed by the regional government and the incorporation of Madrid to the financial and economic globalisation context were fundamental in this regard. From an urban planning viewpoint, the cornerstone was the Plan General de Ordenación Urbana— PGOU (general urban planning scheme) of 1997; thanks to which, an active urban and normative easing policy was implemented with the aim of achieving a more efficient process for producing housing and industrial facilities [8,30,31].

In this framework, major urban projects were promoted in the city's central area enclosed by the M-30 ring road. Since the mid-1990s, financial and business real estate income within the central area enclosed by the M-30 ring road has gradually accumulated around the north–south axis of the Paseo de la Castellana. This axis extended northward with landmarks such as the AZCA complex in the 1960s and Torres Kio in the 1980s. This trend further increased thanks to urban deregulation and the dismantling of planning instruments in the PGOU of 1997, at which point Madrid's urban planning process assigned its regulatory capacity to the financial and land market.

On the borders of Madrid's central area, there was still space for transformation projects in line with the new local urban agenda. These enclaves were originally on the periphery of the centre, an attribute they retain in part to this day. The aim is to accommodate these enclaves to the central status gained by the area. The neoliberal urban model facilitated their transformation through urban projects supported by the collaboration between public and private agents.

As examples of this type of intervention, we give a brief description of the three recent operations formulated in the city's central area. Two of these are located on the northern extension of the Castellana thoroughfare: Cuatro Torres and Madrid Nuevo Norte. The third of these, the Mahou-Calderón operation, is far from the mentioned axis, on the southeastern border of the central area but nonetheless supports the central status of the area (Figure 1). The Cuatro Torres project has been completed and exemplifies the neoliberal model. Madrid Nuevo Norte has received approval but has not been executed, and Nuevo Mahou-Calderón is currently being built. The last two projects that were paralysed during the progressive municipal government of 2015 invite recognition of the alternatives proposed by the progressive government of Ahora Madrid [32].

**Figure 1.** Recent large-scale projects in Madrid city centre 1. Cuatro Torres; 2. Madrid Nuevo Norte; and 3. Nuevo Mahou-Calderón (source: the author).

The results of this analysis highlight the role played by public and private agents that promote these projects within urban models supported by the successive local governments during the duration of the process. In this line, we shall endeavour to demonstrate that projects are formulated when so decided by the agents willing to take part and benefit from the most favourable conditions, who deploy strategies to obtain modifications to land planning schemes and legislation, subscribe covenants and decide alterations to the formulation of projects. All of this pursues the aim of establishing the necessary conditions to allow private entrepreneurs and large investors to extract the maximum profitability from the transformation. We also examine the legal actions brought by aggrieved citizens' associations who question the social quality of the projects. Finally, it is also necessary to determine the identity of the new owners of the land who would perform the material execution of these projects, thus adding evidence to the appraisal of the central area.

The casuistry accompanying each project, as well as the particular characteristics they present (surface area, type of developer, urban planning parameters, design, etc.), likewise makes individual analyses advisable. Thus, the issues addressed can be outlined more clearly and adequately when incorporated to the general premises for this study.
