Cañada Real
Cañada Real is a shanty town in the Madrid Region of Spain, a linear succession of informal housing following a stretch of the drovers' road connecting La Rioja and Ciudad Real. The largest illegal settlement in a European city, it extends through the municipalities of Coslada, Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Madrid.
Location
Cañada Real is situated on the Cañada Real Galiana, one of the traditional cattle roads running from La Rioja to Ciudad Real and close to the M50 motorway, Madrid's third outer ring road. The irregular settlement features both high-end detached houses as well as pockets of extreme poverty. The initial settlement, started in the 1950s and 1960s, was built on what currently forms part of the Coslada urban centre; many of the residents later bought the land from the state. It is considered the largest illegal settlement in a European city.The Cañada Real is divided into 6 subsectors: the Sector 1, the Sector 2, the Sector 3, the Sector 4, the Sector 5 and the Sector 6. The Sector 6 is considered a "supermarket" for drug users.