Política de vivienda en Bilbao, 1900-1930

Abstract

One of the great problems of the industrial cities that began to expand in the second half of the XIX century was housing for the workers. Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, a poor diet and draconian working conditions meant that in cities like Bilbao, the workers’ districts offered inconceivable sights. This gave rise to housing policies, strategies designed by the public powers so that all the citizens had a place to live. Different experiments were made, starting with the liberal suppositions of the Expansion Law of 1864 to the first Cheap Housing Law of 1911, although with little success. The question began to be treated with greater interest in the first three decades of the XX century. In this context, the case of Bilbao is paradigmatic in many respects. From the start of the XX century, the attempts to create dignified lodgings for the workers gave rise to some interesting experiments and what was for the period a considerable volume of construction work. Whether through private or public societies, cooperatives or societies associated to specific industrial companies, the foundations were laid in the capital of Bizkaia and its sphere of influence for future policies that would be more ambitious and efficient.