Zaragoza, Spain
City population: 687448
Duration: 2003 – 2008
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Other
Last updated: November 2021

The neighbourhood intervention is designed as an eco-neighbourhood with an abundance of green space and facilities to connect its residents to the outdoors and to each other. (Ref. 2, 13) It is part of the European Union Renaissance project that is associated with Lyon, France and Lombardy region, Italy (Ref. 12). In Zaragoza, this district, situated on the south of the city, provides about 10,000 homes (most of which are social housing). From design to construction, the district was developed with bioclimatic criteria. (Ref. 8, 12)

Valdespartera 1
Source: Ref. 16

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
  • Blue infrastructure
  • Lakes/ponds

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Waste management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Regulation of built environment
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Social cohesion
  • Social justice and equity
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Transformation of previously derelict areas

Project objectives

- Develop an ‘eco-neighbourhood’ using bioclimatic architecture, renewable energy and ecological corridors (Ref. 3) - Improve citizen's quality of life and sustainable urban development (Ref. 8) - Foster new social and public housing (Ref. 7) - Establish the best relationship between housing and the environment (Ref. 7)

Implementation activities

- Three phases to the project divided by zones of the neighbourhood. (Ref. 3) - "Construction of 616 bioclimatic buildings and the Sustainable Town Planning Center." (Ref. 8) - Creation of multifunctional urban spaces (Ref. 3) - Creation of green zones connecting the three main residential areas (Ref. 6) - Water network that feeds off the Canal Imperial and collected rainwater to water the green spaces. (Ref. 6) - Incorporation of passive design (Ref.13) and renewable energy, including 654 m2 of thermal solar panels (Ref. 8) - Orientation of buildings to favour solar capture: interposition between buildings of sufficient distances in relation to their height. (Ref. 13) - Microclimate: Arrangement of plant surfaces interspersed with the streets and distributed among the houses, achieving specific microclimates in private spaces and avoiding distant views dominated by the firm asphalt and with a strong presence of trees. (Ref. 13) - Vegetation with autochthonous species: and deciduous to favour shade in summer and sunlight in winter. (Ref. 13) - Saving water: In public areas, the existence of ponds and sheets of water is expected to collect rainwater through an independent circuit for watering the gardens. (Ref. 13) - 36 children's play areas divided into various categories based on age and evenly distributed throughout the neighborhood, in such a way that each family in Valdespartera has 3 different parks at close distances and no need to cross dangerous streets (Ref. 3) - Addition of a large park and strengthening of its green area (in 2016). (Ref. 9)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
  • Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Government-led

Type of initiating organisation

  • Regional government
  • Local government/municipality
  • Other

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Unknown

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

Ecociudad Valdespartera S.A (Mixed public company - local and regional governments) is the initiator/ contractor for the project (Ref. 7, 14) Zaragoza City Council (Local government) and Aragon Government (Regional government) provided financing for the NBS (Ref. 7) Private investors to project included Aragón savings banks, Ibercaja and Caja Inmaculada (Ref. 14) RENAISSANCE consortium (a CONCERTO project co-funded by EU) among Lyon, France, Lombardy Region, Italy, and Zaragoza, Spain to innovate in terms of energy and urban development policy (Ref. 1, 4, 12) City of Zaragoza and Spain's Ministry of Defense signed agreement for land-use reclassification of grounds of former barracks to social housing development (Ref. 6, 14) Universidad de Zaragoza (University) provided support for urban development and energy use planning (Ref. 13) Universidade Politecnica di Madrid (University) and Institute for Energy Saving and Diversification (public entity affiliated with Spanish government) provided technical support for solar strategies (Ref. 7)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (Renaissance Project, part of the EU Concerto Programme whose purpose is innovation in energy savings. (Ref. 1))
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (transition to new Zaragoza General Plan (Ref. 5,6); Partial Plan of Valdespartera (Ref. 5,6))

Financing

Total cost

More than €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • EU funds
  • Public regional budget
  • Public local authority budget

Type of funding

  • Earmarked public budget
  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
  • Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Improved stormwater management
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area

Economic impacts

  • Stimulate development in deprived areas
  • Reduce financial cost for urban management

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Safety
  • Increased perception of safety
  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved social cohesion
  • Fair distribution of social, environmental and economic benefits of the NBS project
  • Improved liveability
  • 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
  • Improvement in people’s connection to nature

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. European Union Commission. (n.d.). Renaissance: Description. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

2. Universidad de Zaragoza. (2011). El proyecto renaissance. [Not available in 2020].

3. Ecociudad Valdespartera Zaragoza. (2013). Technical Data. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

4. Renaissance. (n.d.) Zaragoza Spain. Available at: Source link. [8 September 2020].

5. de Miguel Gonzales, Rafael. (2010). Urbanismo y desarrollo sostenible en Zaragoza: la Ecociudad Valdespartera. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

6. Ecociudad Valdespartera Zaragoza, S.A.. (2010). Urbanismo y desarrollo sostenible en Zaragoza: Ecobarrio Valdespartera. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

7. POLIS. (n.d.). VALDESPARTERA ECOBARRIO. [Document provided].

8. Renaissance. (n.d.) Zaragoza's Project. Available at: Source link. [Accessed 8 September 2020].

9. Heraldo. (2016). Valdespartera tendrá nueva zona verde. Available at: Source link. [Accessed 8 September 2020].

10. Heraldo. (2014). Valdespartera clama por su 'parque prometido.' Available at: Source link. [Accessed 8 September 2020].

11. European Commission. (2013). EU-wide database makes results from energy efficiency projects accessible. Available at: Source link. [Accessed 8 September 2020].

12. Zaragoza Vivienda. (n.d) Folleto: Programa Renaissance. [Document provided].

13. Ecociudad Valdespartera Zaragoza. (2013). Ecocity. Available at: Source link [Accessed 8 September 2020].

14. Wonderware. (n.d.). Success Story: Ecocity Valdespartera Zaragoza. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

15. EU Smart Cities Information System. (2020). RENAISSANCE Site Zaragoza. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 8 September 2020].

16. Ecociudad Valdespartera Zaragoza. (2013). Fotos. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 8 September 2020].
Valdespartera 2
Source: Ref. 16
Valdespartera 3
Source: Ref. 16
Valdespartera 4
Source: Ref. 16
Valdespartera 5
Source: Ref. 16
Valdespartera 6
Source: Ref. 16