Valdecarros - Work in progress

 

Valdecarros is part of a series of ongoing housing developments in the southeast end of Madrid that will add 100,000 new homes to the city. Valdecarros alone will have 50,000 homes and about 150,000 residents by the time all phases are completed in 2039.

 

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Some months ago I started documenting the construction of Valdecarros; besides its social and environmental dimension I want to reflect on an image-saturated society and where certain types of photography stand.

 

It is not easy finding a street of any major city/town that is not in Google Street View, with notable exceptions like most of Africa and central Asia.

 

In 2019 Google announced there were 10,000,000 miles captured in Street View; that was achieved in just 12 years, from 2007 to 2019. There are now also available boat trips in Greenland, forest trails in New Zealand or underwater scenery in Australia.

 

So, I’ll try to beat that mf Google car and shoot the brand new finished streets before it does. Although one could argue that the last layer of completion of a street is to be part of Street View, in which case the car will win no matter what.

 

One way or another, when the car arrives the project ends.