*3.3. The Madrid Nuevo Norte Project*

The project is located on the northern extension to the Castellana thoroughfare and originates from the Chamartín operation formulated 26 years ago, but its material transformation has not yet begun. As this was a lengthy process drawn out over a very long period of time, the developers have designed six different projects in which the surface area, buildability ratios and the envisaged number of dwellings have all undergone changes [35]. Given that this undertaking featured the State Administration as landowner, we should bear in mind the political nature of the succession of central governments: PSOE (1982– 1996), PP (1996–2004), PSOE (2004–2011), PP (2011–2018) and PSOE/Unidas Podemos (since 2019).

This project was promoted by Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (Renfe) in 1992 with the aim of modernising the railway facilities at Chamartín station. Renfe issued a call for tenders to procure financing. The awardees were the public bank Argentaria and the San José construction company, who formed the society Desarrollos Urbanísticos de Chamartín (DUCH), participated by Argentaria with 72.5%. This project was defined in 1995 as *Operación Chamartín* on 62 ha property of Renfe, with a gross floor-space ratio of 0.6 m2/m2 and plans to build 5000 homes.

Over subsequent years, major changes were made to the premises inherent to this operation, formulated by neoliberal central, regional and local governments in power. The necessary provisions were lined up to make the urban development operation viable; at which point, it took on greater importance. First, DUCH and Renfe created a consortium and signed a new contract to adapt the undertaking to the new developers' interests. Second, Argentaria was privatised through a merger with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBVA). Third, spot changes were made in the PGOU to allow the desired urban transformation of the space. Moreover, three successive projects were designed in which the surface area of the initial operation of 1995 is multiplied five-fold and the gross buildable space is doubled.

These three projects were presented in 1997, 2011 and 2015 during the mandates of a conservative central government, save for the socialist parentheses in which only the first project was stopped for study by the new officials at the Ministry of Development and Renfe.

The first *Prolongación de la Castellana* project was designed in 1997 over a large area (305.7 ha), with no changes to gross buildable area (0.6 m2/m2) but with a very large commercial floor area (550,206 m2). The 2011 project, likewise entitled *Prolongación de la Castellana*, further enlarged the previous project's parameters: surface area (312.5 ha), gross buildable area (1.05 m2/m2) and commercial floor area (1,204,541 m2). In addition, a total of 17,320 dwellings were planned, of which 22.5% would be social housing. These major changes required the modification of both the PGOU and the *Ley del Suelo Regional* [regional land-use act], in this case to allow the street-level area covering the rail yard at the station to be computed in the overall eligible surface area.

Citizen associations and urban planning professionals denounced the operation on the grounds of the excessive terrain covered, its excessive commercial floor area and the insufficient allowance for protected housing. As a consequence, in 2013, the Higher Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) paralysed the operation after revoking the selective modification to the PGOU, which should have been processed as a revision of the general plan rather than a minor alteration and for infringing the 2007 Land-Use Act, which prohibited the construction of buildings exceeding four storeys in height on urban soil [36]. Nevertheless, this height limitation was solved by the regional government with an additional provision to the Ley de Patrimonio Histórico (historical heritage act) and a modification to the Land-Use Act to remove the height restriction. Judicial rulings obliged the developers to review the planning and reduce the dimensions of the project, while its viability was likewise threatened under the adverse economic circumstances nationwide.

Consequently, Renfe and DUCH concluded a new contract and in 2015 presented the project *Distrito Castellana Norte*, the name adopted henceforth by the developer (DCN). However, the new project's parameters proved even more excessive than before. It only slightly diminished the surface area covered (311.4 ha) while maintaining the gross floor space ratio unchanged (1.05 m2/m2). In addition, to conform to the envisaged drop in the demand for office space, it reduced tertiary building potential (1,045,631 m2) while increasing the number of homes to 17,739, of which only 10% would be social housing. The City Council, however, did not manage to give its final approval to this operation before the municipal elections of 2015 were won by the coalition of left-wing parties Ahora Madrid.

The new municipal government cancelled the operation and launched a participative process open to the city's representative organisations and professionals in the fields of urbanism, ecology and transports. In 2016, it proposed the alternative project *Madrid Puerta Norte*, which it planned to lead single-handedly. This project cut back its extension (174.5 ha), reducing gross buildable space (0.7 m2/m2) and tertiary buildable area (582,275 m2). Similarly, housing was reduced to 4587 units, of which 22% would be protected homes. As a new feature, it divided the location into four sectors subject to different modes of management, buildable space potential and housing density, doing away with the operation's previous unitary concept. The project was approved by the associations and citizens' groups that took part in drafting it.

Nevertheless, the proposal was rejected by DCN, and negotiations were taken up with the City Council to unblock the situation. In 2018, the developers tabled the new *Madrid Nuevo Norte* project that caused indignation among social groups. This operation's parameters were greater than any previous projects. The surface area of the plot (329 ha) was the largest up until then, and the total tertiary buildable area (1,505,659 m2) was also the highest. Although the four zones were maintained, gross buildability was established from 0.7 to 1.05, according to each zone. More housing was incorporated (10,510), of which 38% would be social homes.

Political groups, citizens' associations, neighbourhood associations under the Zona Norte platform, non-governmental and professional urban planning organisations denounced the project, criticising its approval by a progressive municipal government. These groups demanded the cancellation of the operation on the grounds that it was blatantly speculative and kowtowing to interests of BBVA, as well as deepening the north–south socioeconomic inequality rift in the city. They urged the City Council to declare the grounds public property dedicated to social uses in order to ensure a sustainable balanced and fair development.

After the municipal elections in 2019, a conservative coalition came to power in the City Council and gave final approval to the project in 2020 [37] (Figure 3). Political groups in the opposition, however, called for the operation to be cancelled demanding that Adif (formerly Renfe) should make public all the documents related to the development hidden from public opinion. Deeming the project illegal, they filed a number of claims in the courts and brought action before the Fiscalía Anticorrupción (anti-corruption prosecutor's office) against 28 policy makers and business leaders for alleged administrative prevarication, bribery and embezzling of public funds through contracts over a 25 year span. In the same way, the former owners of the expropriated land are still suing for their rights in the courts, after they learned of the incorporation of lucrative uses. All these claims remain unresolved today.

**Figure 3.** Recreation of the Madrid Nuevo Norte project (2020) [38]. Copyright 2020 DCN Madrid.
