Social Risk Map of Zaragoza: complementary tools to measure the regenerative potential of vulnerable areas

Abstract

Between 2014 and 2017 the School of Architecture and Technology of San Jorge
University in collaboration with the Professional Association of Social Workers of Aragon has
developed a Social Risk Map taking the city of Zaragoza as a case of study. Raised from a
highly interdisciplinary approach, the goal has been to create a tool that allows the different
disciplines involved in the urban regeneration of the city to take part synergistically in those
strategic places likely to promote greater use of the resources involved. This article compares
the results obtained by the Urban Analysis of Vulnerable Neighborhoods carried out by the
Instituto Juan de Herrera in 1991, 2001 and 2006 centered on Zaragoza, with the diagnosis
made by the municipality of Zaragoza itself during the drafting of the Integrated Sustainable
Urban Development Strategy presented in 2016, and the results obtained from the methodology
of analysis developed specifically for the realization of the Social Risk Map. Among the
conclusions obtained, on one hand, stands out a worrying lack of adaptation between the
identification of neighborhoods and vulnerable zones carried out by the Ministry and the
comprehensive rehabilitation actions carried out until now. On the other, it has been noticed a
constant relationship between urban areas with a greater urban-architectural capacity of
modification in short-medium term and the social and residential spaces belonging to the
upper-middle class. This is the reason why the dogma of faith established by the OECD since
the publication of the report Distressed Urban Areas in 1998 is questioned. According to this
report, the public policies for the socio-economic regeneration of neighborhoods must be
planned from a point of view primarily urban-architectural.