Last updated: October 2021
"After decades of abandonment and deterioration, Zaragoza took advantage of the opportunity of the Expo 2008, to form a new relationship with the Ebro River, transforming empty, inaccessible, degraded and unsafe banks into places of encounter and representation. Public works on the Ebro were designed as structures with various functions." (Ref.3)
Ebro River General Plan
Source: Ref. 2, Zaragoza City Council
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Green playgrounds and school grounds
- Blue infrastructure
- Riverbank/Lakeside greens
- Parks and urban forests
- Large urban parks or forests
- Botanical gardens
- Green corridors and green belts
- Other
- Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
- Green areas for water management
- Swales and filter strips
- Other
Key challenges
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Regulation of built environment
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social interaction
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Enabling opportunities for physical activity
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Strategy, plan or policy development, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas
Project objectives
- Transform the areas of disrepair into areas of leisure and meeting places.
- Return the nature to the landscape and take advantage of the energies present in the environment
- Maintain and empower the cultural heritage
- Procure diversity in the form and maintenance of the different sections in relation to their natural and cultural characteristics
- Excel in the quality and use of the infrastructures
- Facilitate the accessibility to the space and the continuous longitudinal and crossway use of the pathways
- Promote and integrate multiple and compatible functions to satisfy the necessities of the citizens (hydraulic defence, water sports, kiosks)
- Guarantee cost-effectiveness/ use in its environmental, social and economic aspects.
(Ref. 3)
Implementation activities
2000 to 2005- Proposals for the intervention plan begin parallel/ as part of the Expo 2008 Plans.
17 different interventions/ rehabilitation projects form part of the Riberas project, including installments of pedestrian pathways and bicycle paths
Sub-interventions of the whole project grouped into three main actions:
1. Parque del Agua and the banks of the Ranillas sections: Integrate and harmonize an area of 150 hectares to make the park and its banks cohesive through the building of fluvial groves, forests, botanic park, water canal, river beaches, urban gardens, sporting areas, school and theater for kids, kiosks, restaurants.
2. River park of the right bank: park corridor that allows the continuous access to the banks of the river .
3. The pathway of the left bank
(Ref 3, 359-369)
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Government-led
Type of initiating organisation
- Multilateral organisation
- Regional government
- Local government/municipality
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Unknown
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The intervention was developed as part of the Zaragoza Expo 2008, led by the Expoagua Society 2008
other bodies involved were the Ministry of Development (Fomento), Hydrological Confederation of the Ebro, General Deputy of Aragon, and the City (Ayuntamiento) of Zaragoza. (ref 3, 355)
It also involved the support of professional associations, the university, and civil society (ref 3, 356)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(Plan of the Ebro Riverbanks 2001, this plan was designed to address the rehabilitation and conditioning of the riverbanks of the Ebro. (ref 4))
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public regional budget
- Public local authority budget
- Other
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
- Water management and blue areas
- Increased protection against flooding
- Improved stormwater management
- Enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved access to urban green space
- Increased opportunities for social interaction
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Promotion of cultural diversity
- Protection of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
- Increased appreciation for natural spaces
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza Unidad de Gestión de la Web Municipal webmuncipal@Source link. (2006). Grandes proyectos e einfraestructuras. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 31 August 2020].
2. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza Unidad de Gestión de la Web Municipal. (2007). Proyecto de márgenes y riberas urbanas del río Ebro. Available at: Source link [Accessed 31 August 2020].
3. Corellano, F. P. (2015). La recuperación de las riberas del Ebro en Zaragoza. Un efecto perdurable del evento efímero Expo 2008. Universidad de Zaragoza. [Document provided].
4. Expo Zaragoza 2008. (2008). Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the transformation of the city. [Document provided].
5. Gobierno España. (2006). INFORME DE VIABILIDAD SEGÚN EL ARTÍCULO 46.5 DE LA LEY DE AGUAS. PROYECTOS DE MÁRGENES Y RIBERAS URBANAS EN EL RÍO EBRO EN ZARAGOZA. [Not available 2020].
6. Gobierno España. (n.d.). INFORME DE VIABILIDAD SEGÚN EL ARTÍCULO 46.5 DE LA LEY DE AGUAS. PROYECTOS DE MÁRGENES Y RIBERAS URBANAS EN EL RÍO EBRO EN ZARAGOZA. [Document provided].
7. Alconchel, I. (2020). ¿Y si nos volviéramos a bañar en el Ebro? Qué se puede hacer y qué no en el río. Source link. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 2 September 2020].
2. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza Unidad de Gestión de la Web Municipal. (2007). Proyecto de márgenes y riberas urbanas del río Ebro. Available at: Source link [Accessed 31 August 2020].
3. Corellano, F. P. (2015). La recuperación de las riberas del Ebro en Zaragoza. Un efecto perdurable del evento efímero Expo 2008. Universidad de Zaragoza. [Document provided].
4. Expo Zaragoza 2008. (2008). Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the transformation of the city. [Document provided].
5. Gobierno España. (2006). INFORME DE VIABILIDAD SEGÚN EL ARTÍCULO 46.5 DE LA LEY DE AGUAS. PROYECTOS DE MÁRGENES Y RIBERAS URBANAS EN EL RÍO EBRO EN ZARAGOZA. [Not available 2020].
6. Gobierno España. (n.d.). INFORME DE VIABILIDAD SEGÚN EL ARTÍCULO 46.5 DE LA LEY DE AGUAS. PROYECTOS DE MÁRGENES Y RIBERAS URBANAS EN EL RÍO EBRO EN ZARAGOZA. [Document provided].
7. Alconchel, I. (2020). ¿Y si nos volviéramos a bañar en el Ebro? Qué se puede hacer y qué no en el río. Source link. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 2 September 2020].
Ebro River before Intervention
Source: Ref. 3
Ebro River after Intervention
Source: Ref. 3