Ciudad Valdeluz - The empty city
by Magali Corouge
Spain led the recent property boom in Europe with prices increasing annually at an average of around 13% from 2001-07. However, the global economic slump has taken it’s toll and many of the housing that was built to take advantage of the rising market now stands empty. Government studies estimate that up to 780,000 of the houses built since 2005 have not been sold.
Ciudad Valdeluz is perhaps the starkest example of the spanish property crash. Originally intended to be home to 30,000 people, this new city, 60km from Madrid, currently has only 600 residents. Final building work in the city was halted in the summer of 2008, when the national economy started to slow in response to the global crisis. As yet there has been no date set for the resumption of work, leaving about 75% of the city unfinished.
The city has become a new “ghost-town”, a landscape of deserted streets and empty spaces. For the few people that do live in Ciudad Valdeluz there are only basic services: a supermarket, a corner shop, a medical centre open 2 days a week, a long way from the bustling modern suburb promised when work began, but still a 24hr security patrol keeps the uninhabited houses and unopened shops safe. Soon a restaurant and a pharmacie should open.
For those who enjoy peace and quiet Ciudad Valdeluz may have a lot to offer but for those who find the silent buildings and the vacant squares eerie there is the hope of a new, fast, rail-link to Madrid that will, at least, offer a means of escape.
