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Valdecarros will transform the southeast of Madrid with more than 51,000 homes
The southeast of Madrid is preparing for a massive transformation that will redefine the city over the coming decades. Valdecarros, the major urban development planned in Villa de Vallecas, will see the construction of more than 51,000 homes, extensive green areas, and new facilities in a space designed to accommodate up to 150,000 people.
The scale of the project makes it one of the largest residential operations in Europe. More than half of the homes will have some form of public protection, something the City Council and the Community present as one of their main strategies to try to ease pressure on Madrid’s property market over the next twenty years.
The first developments will begin construction between 2026 and 2027, with the first handovers possibly arriving between late 2028 and 2029. Growth will be gradual and divided into eight phases to adapt the development to real demand and avoid some of the problems seen in other large neighbourhoods that were built too quickly.
The new neighbourhood will completely change the current landscape of Villa de Vallecas. Where there are now large empty plots and peripheral areas, there will be homes, schools, health centres, shops, offices, and sports facilities. The official aim is to prevent Valdecarros from becoming a commuter town and to promote a more autonomous and connected neighbourhood life.
Mobility will be one of the main pillars of the project. The plan includes more than 127 kilometres of cycle lanes and pedestrian routes, as well as connections to Metro line 1, new transport interchanges, and planned improvements to Cercanías and bus services. The idea is to reduce dependence on cars in an area where many daily journeys are still tied to private vehicles.
The green component will also be significant. Nearly 40% of the entire area will be dedicated to parks and landscaped spaces, and more than 110,000 trees will be planted as part of the future Bosque Metropolitano. The design aims to ensure that no home is far from a green area in one of the most ambitious urban developments Madrid has ever undertaken.
The project also involves huge economic figures. Just the first phases will exceed 1.8 billion euros in private investment, while the construction of homes and facilities will generate thousands of jobs and activity over the next two decades.
Valdecarros also symbolises the new model of expansion that Madrid is trying to build on its outskirts: denser neighbourhoods, with more protected housing, more public spaces, and mobility that is less focused exclusively on cars. The challenge will be to ensure that infrastructure, transport, and services arrive at the same pace as new residents, to avoid the problems that have affected other recent developments in the capital.