The geopolitical construction of Madrid as a city-region and its discontents: understanding the relevance of the “national” scale for the urban process

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article aims to shed new light on the multiscalar politics of urbanization by examining the contested construction of Madrid as a global city-region and the resistances to this project at different scales. Drawing on the concept of the strategic urbanization of the state, it argues that the successful association between a city project and a geopolitical vision of the national state is essential to understand how states mobilize their resources to shape their domestic urban fabric. It follows from this claim that attempts to transform how urbanization unfolds in specific countries must dispute not only specific city projects, but also the geopolitical visions of the national state underpinning them.