The garden city of official spanish initiative during the franco era: the case of the Sant Narcís syndical housing Group in Girona

Abstract

The first part of this article examines the role played by different urban agents (land propietors and local and national public authorities) who intevened directly or indirectly in the creation of «Sindicate Housing» in Sant Narcís de Girona. Their attitude (in some cases favourable and in others unfavourable) to the sheme is specified, and it is noted that such diverging attitudes demonstrate the lack of unity of purpose within the same dominating social class. The basic questions are: 1) to prove that the major rural land propietors en el Pla de Girona controlled the urban expansion of the city; 2) to demonstrate the existence of continous intervention by the National Government in the promotion and constitution of low cost-housing during the years following the Civil War (when the Sant Narcís estate was built); 3) to verify the support given by the local public authorities (the City Council) to the land-owners; 4) to point out the constantly increasing dependence of Sant Narcís on Girona's city centre. Although the Sant Narcís «Sindicate Housing» possesses some characteristics typical of garden estates, it forms a truly unique urban unit within the city of Girona, and in capitalist cities in general, in so much as it offers different morphological units within a relatively limited area, while at the same time architectural similarities give it a uniform appearance in comparison to its surroundings.

The second part of the article consists of a study of the population of the Sant Narcís estate. The principal characteristics are the progressive aging of the population and its abandon, as a result of continuous urban degradation and the heterogeneous social class composition, which was distributed differently according to the category of dwellings and hence implied clearly defined social segregation.