Ciudad de los Poetas

“Ciudad de los Poetas”, or “The City of the Poets”, is one of the last large neighbourhoods to be built in the Dehesa de la Villa area between the 1960s and 1970s.

Built in several phases, this privately developed residential area is remarkable for the urban quality and careful design of its middle-class housing. The aim of this urban development was to create a place that would enhance the virtues of coexistence. “You could say that Spanish experimentalism in social housing reached its zenith here,” says architect Juan Daniel Fullaondo. “The complex does away with the urban landscape in which each building is a prima donna. It is a veritable architectural ballet in which urban planning is the primary intention of the whole,” says architect Rafael de la Hoz.

The hexagonal system that defines each unit is superimposed on another unit of open spaces well away from the road network. The complex eschews large linear blocks in favour of small courtyards or squares.

Cultural and social services were later provided by Madrid City Council, such as the Ciudad de los Poetas Integrated Centre. There is also a parish church and a small shopping centre. Lepanto State School, at Calle Valderrey 9, stands out as the only school built in line with the general criteria of the neighbourhood.

Updated: 17/10/2025