Conditions imposed by COVID19 pandemic have revealed the weakness of a urban space of Madrid, that is optimized for the private motor traffic. It is analyzed the capacity of the urban framework to provide citizen needs on the closest scale, known as "15-Minute City". The virus incidence data, mobility patterns, population density have been territorialized, including an analysis of the nearby space, surface of sidewalks and roads, per inhabitant. It shows a risk of the increase in previous inequalities, in an urban and territorial context segregated by income and functions. The results on the nearest scale allow us to observe the major role of the street and sidewalk space, which, along with public transport, will have to be redesigned to facilitate its use in safe conditions.

The analysis and management of the territory from the perspective of the current administrative boundaries produce interpretative errors and, therefore, operational consequences in the determination of plans and projects. Nowadays, the physical and functional configuration of the urban territory has exceeded the traditional administrative limits and the border with the rural world. In this regard, the emerged forms of organization still need to be analysed. This paper develops a methodology to build a new framework which may be able to go beyond the traditional boundaries pre-established by public administrations in the Iberian Peninsula. This is not simply a question of metropolization, but rather identifying the total of functional urban areas with an approach as broad as possible, to rendering them a full significance and categorization. As a result, 273 functional urban areas of very varied characterization have been delimited in the Iberian Peninsula. All of them still need to be explored within themselves and comparatively.

ResumenLa urbanización es interpretada como un indicador del progreso. Cuanto más urbanizado es un territorio, más desarrollado y generador de riqueza se le presupone. Sin embargo, aunque es indudable que existe una estrecha interrelación entre los cambios territoriales y los socioeconómicos, sería ilusorio pensar que los actuales procesos de urbanización solo presentan facetas positivas. Las problemáticas de la ciudad también se han expandido con ella, haciéndose cada vez más complejas en sus características y consecuencias. El aumento de la diferenciación social y la desigualdad se reproduce hoy especialmente a través del ‘efecto barrio’. Sus causas son los depurados mecanismos que generan la segregación residencial. En ellos se combinan complejos procesos de diferenciación, expulsión, atracción y homogeneización de los diversos grupos sociales; influenciados tanto por la construcción social del espacio urbano en perspectiva histórica como por la coyuntura político-económica actual. Todo ello ha dado lugar a la formación de complejos patrones de segregación en las áreas metropolitanas, que se suman a los acuciantes retos que enfrentan estos vastos territorios urbanos, administrativamente fragmentados y sin una ordenación territorial ni gobernanza integradas.AbstractUrbanisation is interpreted as an indicator of progress. The more urbanised a territory is, the more developed and wealth-generating it is assumed to be. However, although there is undoubtedly a close interrelationship between territorial and socio-economic changes, it would be illusory to think that current urbanisation processes only have positive facets. The problems of the city have also expanded with it, becoming increasingly complex in their characteristics and consequences. The increase in social differentiation and inequality is reproduced today especially through the 'neighbourhood effect'. Its causes are the refined mechanisms that generate residential segregation. They combine complex processes of differentiation, expulsion, attraction, and homogenisation of different social groups, influenced both by the social construction of urban space in historical perspective and by the current political and economic situation. All this has led to the formation of complex patterns of segregation in metropolitan areas, which add to the pressing challenges facing these vast urban territories, which are administratively fragmented and lack integrated planning and governance.

ResumenEsta investigación centra su atención en el análisis de los procesos constitutivos de lo urbano, más allá de las delimitaciones territoriales administrativas. Es fundamental arrojar luz sobre dichos procesos para estudiar las dinámicas y disyuntivas que enfrentan nuestros desiguales territorios urbanos. Con esta visión se propone una metodología para delimitar el área urbana funcional de Madrid y establecer sobre ella una diferenciación zonal que conjugue la existencia de un gradiente de intensidad de sus procesos constitutivos con la fracturación social de su espacio. Por último, un análisis multicriterio, a través de la generación de índices sintéticos, comparativos entre las diferentes zonas demarcadas, aportará una base descriptiva sobre la que evaluar tanto el acierto metodológico de la delimitación y caracterización del área funcional como su modelo evolutivo de desarrollo durante las últimas dos décadas. Los datos obtenidos arrojan luz sobre la validez de la tradicional dicotomía madrileña noroeste-sureste, así como, sobre la insostenibilidad del modelo en generación.Palabras clave Territorio urbano; urbanización extensiva; movilidad; segregación espacial; ocupación insostenible; vulnerabilidadAbstractThis research focuses on the analysis of constitutive urban processes rather than preconceived demarcations of urban sites. This is of paramount importance to cast further light on the dynamics and dilemmas which our unequal urban territories are facing. With this view, the research proposes a methodology to identify geographically Madrid’s functional urban area and stablish it distinct zones. This task of zoning combines the existence of an intensity gradient in its constitutive urban processes with the social-spatial segregation pattern of Madrid. After that, a multi-criteria analysis through comparative synthetic indexes will lay the foundation for evaluating the methodology being followed heretofore and the characterization of the functional urban area. Finally, all outcomes will provide us with enough information to express a reasoned judgement on the evolutionary development of the area over the past two decades. The conclusion is the validity of the traditional segregation pattern, as well as the unsustainability of the current model set out in the area.KeywordsUrban territories; extended urbanization; mobility; social-spatial segregation; unsustainable land use; vulnerability