VIRTUAL ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)
Abstract
Public housing estates built in Andalusia, southern Spain, between 1950 and 1980 constitute a significant part of the region’s 20th-century architectural heritage. These urban ensembles are the material legacy of the application of Modern Movement principles to mass housing, conceived to address the post-war housing deficit through standardized, rationalized solutions. Today, these estates face a very different set of problems: urban, social and architectural. Among them, typological obsolescence stands out, as their spatial configurations no longer align with the social, cultural, and demographic realities of contemporary society. The GENUS project proposes a multidisciplinary research framework to support the typological regeneration of these estates from a heritage-conscious perspective. Its main objective is to diagnose typological mismatches with contemporary society and propose effective interventions. Over three years, GENUS will: (1) compile a typological database of representative public housing blocks from the period; (2) conduct a sociological survey to identify current needs among potential protected housing applicants; (3) assess qualitative, quantitative, and architectural obsolescence; and (4) publish a catalogue of typology-focused regeneration strategies, including exemplary case studies. Combining methodologies from architecture and sociology, GENUS recognizes these housing estates not only as obsolete infrastructures but also as an opportunity to revitalize a rich architectural heritage. The project aims to foster perspectives that advocate for regeneration rather than demolition, promoting sustainable, inclusive approaches that preserve the historical, social, and architectural value of modern public housing. GENUS contributes to the emerging recognition of mid-20th-century housing as a form of modern heritage requiring both conservation and transformation.
Alfonso Guajardo-Fajardo Cruz is an architect and PhD in Architecture (2018) from the University of Seville, where he teaches. Since 2017, he has also taught in a master’s program at Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on the regeneration of mid-20th-century social housing estates in Europe. His publications include: In Search of Flexibility: The Square and the Grid in Contemporary Housing; Multiculturalism, Gender and Age: Three Challenges for the New European Collective Housing; and Typological Analysis of Social Linear Blocks: Spain 1950–1983.