The Avenida de Asturias ("Avenue of Asturias") is a street in northwest

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, located in the district of Tetuán. A relatively recent urban development, opened in 2000, it hosts a multitudinous Sunday flea market since 2005.

History and description

It straddles along a E–W

thalweg In geography and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Under international law, a thalweg is the middle of the primary navigable channel of a waterway that defines the bounda ...

separating La Ventilla and

Valdeacederas Valdeacederas is an administrative neighborhood () of Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. ...

; with a difference in level between the maximum level at

plaza de Castilla The Plaza de Castilla ( en, "Castile Square") is a roundabout in the north of Madrid, Spain. Location It is located in the north of the city and is bisected by Paseo de la Castellana, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital, almost at its ...

and the minimum level at the Paseo de la Dirección of about 32 metres. The avenue, that starts in the plaza de Castilla and ends at its junction with the calle de Sinesio Delgado, also links with the Paseo de la Dirección and the calle de Ginzo de Limia as major junctions. Its construction was part of the wider project for the reform of La Ventilla area, constituting the key axis of the latter. The plot over which the street was built (along the very path of the former "calle de los Curtidos"), was an area featuring high levels of

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

. The reform of the area was passed through the modification of the 1985 Plan General de Ordenación Urbana (PGOU). Several buildings works were carried out by the Instituto de la Vivienda de Madrid (IVIMA), and the new street, with a total width of 58 metres, was inaugurated in 2000. The new housing has been however described as rather "impersonal". The Sunday flea market (''mercadillo'') installed in the street in 2005 is one of the biggest flea markets in the city.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asturias, Avenida de Streets in Madrid Tetuán (Madrid)