San Cosme, Spain: Planning and Renewal of a State Housing Area

The San Cosme Residential Estate was built outside Barcelona, Spain, in the mid-1960s by the state-run Syndical Housing Authority to rehouse over seven thousand people, most of them from cleared shanty towns on the Montjuich hill overlooking the city. Within five years of construction the houses began to deteriorate rapidly and San Cosme has since become notorious as an example of the worst aspects of state housing in Spain. This article examines in detail die planning and construction of San Cosme and the successful campaign of the local residents' association to persuade central state authorities of the need to rebuild die estate. At the same time, the article identifies the major socio-political and planning issues involved in the San Cosme experience that may be of relevance to other state housing projects in both the developed and developing world.