The production of identity of new urban developments through place-based social big data: the growth of the Madrid metropolitan area during the real estate bubble (1990-2012)

This work contributes with an approach to analyze the production of identity and spatial appropriation in urban environments. To do so, the link between individual and places, and its role in the production of identity is acknowledged. This process is studied through the analysis of landmarks and toponyms -place names- with data extracted from the social network Foursquare, in which users register and publish their visits to places. Several urban growth areas developed during the recent housing bubble in the Metropolitan Area of Madrid (1990-2012), are used as case study. Due to the recent and rapid urbanization, and potential mechanisms of simplification of the urban fabric, these areas are believed to lack an identity. This work analyzes different types of growth, revealing a correspondence between the morphological typology of the new developments and the type of places that constitute landmarks in them, as well as the appearance of toponyms, to highlight certain places as potential generators of urban social identity.