Leftovers from the real estate bubble, a database
One of the most significant consequences of the current economic crisis in Spain is the proliferation of unfinished, underused or vacant architectural and urban developments. Large ghost towns, abandoned public buildings or partially finished infrastructures have become an indelible part of landscape which has been altered by an institutionalized megalomania of absurd dimension. This nationwide phenomenon covers both territorial and socio-political context.
As a response to the lack of an official inventory of the abandoned speculative construction, the collective project “leftovers of the real estate bubble, a database” proposes to locate and document all premature real estate corpses that litter this country . The initiative, with has a marked interdisciplinary approach, englobes architects, engineers, city planners, researchers, artists and environmental activists and pretends to reach out to a wide and numerous group of participants.
The aim of this ambitious compilation is to provide comprehensive and accessible information for everyone to use . Although providing this type of information clearly implies a critical view of the of the speculative real estate development, the database aims to be the starting point for future proposals about these modern ruins and to promote social awareness about this built and abandoned reality of ours which we cannot ignore.