EN

According to Wikipedia, Estrecho (which means Strait, but also narrow, tight) takes its name from the Strait of Gibraltar, and is located within the neighborhood of Tetuán, which also is named like the Moroccan city from which the troops who settled in the neighborhood originally came. In an exercise in coherence between nomenclature and urban planning, it is mostly made up of over developed and densely populated streets (the average population density of the neighborhood is five times higher than that of the rest of Madrid), and where the absence of nature is suffocating. In that, the neighborhood is also narrow.

I settled in Estrecho weeks before the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent confinement, after almost ten years living in another city. I barely knew the neighborhood before I arrived and in my micro-expeditions, I have learned streets, I have seen different architectural exercises, but above all I have seen many people. In many cases their stories are also of having left another land behind.

ES

Estrecho,a:

• adj. Que tiene poca anchura.

• adj. Ajustado, apretado. Vestido, zapato estrecho.

• adj. Dicho del parentesco: cercano.

• adj. Dicho de la amistad: íntima.

• adj. Rígido, austero, exacto. adj. Apocado, miserable, tacaño.

• adj. Dicho de una persona: Que tiene ideas restrictivas sobre las relaciones sexuales.

• U. t. c. s. m. Estrechez (aprieto).

• m. Paso angosto comprendido entre dos tierras y por el cual se comunica un mar con otro.

• m. En el juego de los estrechos, persona que resultaba emparejada con otra por sorteo.

• m. pl. Juego que tenía lugar en la víspera de Reyes y que consistía en emparejar por sorteo a un caballero con una dama, a la que debía servir durante todo el año.

• Zona del barrio de Tetuán, al norte de Madrid.

Según Wikipedia, el barrio de Estrecho toma su nombre del Estrecho de Gibraltar, y se encuentra dentro del Distrito de Tetuán, que a su vez se llama así por la ciudad marroquí de la que venían las tropas que se asentaron en los orígenes del barrio. En un ejercicio de coherencia entre nomenclatura y urbanismo, se compone en su mayoría de calles excesivamente urbanizadas y densamente pobladas (la media de la densidad poblacional del barrio es cinco veces superior a la del resto de Madrid), y donde la ausencia de naturaleza es notable. En eso, el barrio también es estrecho.

Me instalé en Estrecho semanas antes del avance de la pandemia del Covid-19 y el consiguiente confinamiento, después de casi diez años viviendo en otra ciudad. Apenas conocía el barrio antes de llegar y en mis micro-expediciones, he aprendido calles, he visto diferentes ejercicios arquitectónicos, pero sobretodo he visto mucha gente. En muchos casos sus historias son también de haber dejado atrás otra tierra en algún momento.

EN

According to Wikipedia, Estrecho (which means Strait, but also narrow, tight) takes its name from the Strait of Gibraltar, and is located within the neighborhood of Tetuán, which also is named like the Moroccan city from which the troops who settled in the neighborhood originally came. In an exercise in coherence between nomenclature and urban planning, it is mostly made up of over developed and densely populated streets (the average population density of the neighborhood is five times higher than that of the rest of Madrid), and where the absence of nature is suffocating. In that, the neighborhood is also narrow.

I settled in Estrecho weeks before the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent confinement, after almost ten years living in another city. I barely knew the neighborhood before I arrived and in my micro-expeditions, I have learned streets, I have seen different architectural exercises, but above all I have seen many people. In many cases their stories are also of having left another land behind.