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Cerro del Tío Pío,”symbol of all the suburbs of Spain, of all the suburbs of the world”

Cerro del Tío Pío,”symbol of all the suburbs of Spain, of all the suburbs of the world”
1960. Communal kitchen in the Cerro del Tío Pío, managed by a charitable institution © Museo de Historia de Madrid
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Cerro del Tío Pío,”symbol of all the suburbs of Spain, of all the suburbs of the world”

Uniting the fight against rural poverty with the promotion of gender equality and environmental sustainability is one of the main strategies which is currently being developed by governments, institutions, associations and businesses with two objectives: to improve the situation of women and their families through paid jobs in environmental conservation and stopping migration to urban suburbs with no infrastructure and little chance of employment.  The rapid advent of rural migration to Madrid (and other Spanish cities) generated situations similar to those now arising in the cities of poorer countries, with nutritional, health, housing and educational problems. In 1965, the poet Pedro Garfias christened the Cerro del Tío Pío as a symbol of all the suburbs in the world.

Private individuals and charities (in those days NGOs did not exist) were to develop initiatives to ease the most pressing problems for the new arrivals, especially the misery of their children, organising, among other things, communal kitchens to feed undernourished children.

This gallery shows examples of this kind of environmental project, with different promoters (from women who organise themselves to international organisms); funding generally comes from international organisations, NGOS or business, and less frequently, local government.