Cristobal de Moura Green Street
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Innovative technology and design take us back to nature with state of the
art passive water management systems that make beautiful plant filled
streets. Cristobal de Moura Green Street brings it all together with inclusive,
participatory city planning.
This pioneering project uses the power of vegetation to manage rainwater
where it falls, reducing pollution and water waste, with health benefits for
people and the environment. It serves as a model and inspiration for future
interventions.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
The transformation of Cristobal de Moura st. into a linear park is a
pioneering project that leads the way into the future of the city - green,
sustainable, resilient, and people centered.
It is found in Barcelona's 22@ technology district, in Poblenou, and forms
part of the strategy of structuring the city through green corridors, creating
healthy and functional spaces to stimulate neighborhood activity. Citizens
have been placed at the center, encouraging their participation to generate
a new multifunctional urban ecosystem designed by and for people,
contributing directly to the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG
11 on inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities.
The intervention will be completed in different phases, and will connect the
Central park of Poblenou with Besós park, and continue towards the
municipalities of Sant Adrià and Badalona.
The urban development around this degraded axis has been minor, which
allows for the reformulation of a mixed urban area of about 20 hectares,
with new housing, economic activity, green public spaces and facilities,
which will become an innovative and laboratory of an inclusive, sustainable
and healthy city.
Aesthetics and user experience have been key aspects in its design which
balances functionality with a naturalized urban experience, inductive of
peace and wellbeing.
It has contributed to the revaluation of the neighborhood's environment and
heritage, starting with the transformation of the former Ca l'Alier factory into
an innovation center linked to smart cities.
The transformation of Cristobal de Moura is a model implementation of the
Green Street strategy in Barcelona. In addition to traditional advantages of
increasing biodiversity in the city, it incorporates rainwater management in
a sustainable and passive way through Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
(SUDS). These techniques are considered a climate change adaptation
strategy by managing flood risk while reducing runoff pollution.
Key objectives for sustainability
This project has two key sustainability objectives. The first is to create
resilient urban drainage systems, able to adapt to and absorb new extreme
rainfall events and enable the city to face the challenge of climate change.
The second, to improve the urban environment using the power of
vegetation. The idea is that for the health and resilience of the city,
vegetation is a necessity and not mere decoration.
The Green Street strategy presents us with the opportunity to combine this
necessary increase in greenery with systems that manage stormwater
where it originates, through Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS);
that treat stormwater as a resource and not as a waste to be quickly
disposed of. It is a strategy for adapting to climate change, while mitigating
the risk of flooding in the city.
The Cristobal de Moura Green Street has achieved both its objectives. In
addition to reducing runoff and improving water quality, we also reduced the
heat island effect, road safety, reduced the carbon footprint and improved
the aesthetics and livability of the neighborhood;
It also contributes to the protection of the city's surrounding water bodies,
as the system is designed to treat the concentration of pollutants contained
in urban runoff water at source, retaining and biodegrading these pollutants
in the first layers of soil, thus avoiding the risk of contamination of the
aquifer and the receiving environment.
Greenery plays a key role, as it contributes to the management of runoff
from the built-up basin, retaining and managing rainwater generated in the
paved and built environment.
Therefore, greenery increases its functions, becoming part of the water
cycle management, serving as flood areas, sinks, filters, decanters,
bioretention areas, etc. This additional and very important function
encourages green spaces to stop being almost confined to parks and
squares, and expand to the rest of the urban space, thus democratising
vegetation in the city.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The aesthetics and quality of the user's experience have been key aspects
in our project design. Its objective is precisely to balance the functionality of
a street with a naturalized urban experience. We wish to inspire users and
planers to imagine a city that harmonize construction with vegetation, a
place that generates peace and well-being without losing its functionality.
Key objectives have been:
To create a city street that generates a sense of peace and well-being
similar to being in nature, or in the urban context, of being in a park,
without losing the urban feeling.
To create a space that invites calm and reduces the stress typical of
big cities.
To inspire both users and urban planners to imagine a naturalized city.
These objectives are reflected in our project, first of all, in the centrality of
the vegetation. The vegetation in the project has been designed to give a
sense of exuberance and lushness, without creating hidden or insecure
spaces. This has been achieved by playing with different layers of
vegetation, such as shrubs, trees and creeping plants. In this way we
created a space that gives a park feeling without being one.
The natuarlized experience envolves all the senses, shades of green and
chromatic variations of plants, smells of aromatic plants and the sounds of
birds. Since the street has been pacified, noise has been reduced
considerably.
The constructed part of the street was designed with sinuous, organic and at
the same time discreet lines, to leave the protagonism of the space to the
vegetation. The details of the construction use materials common to the
city.
The street is gradually transformed into a park along the first few blocks.
This makes the experience immersive as the user progressively enters the
street park. It also suggests the idea of a transformation of the city over
time, thus inspiring to build more spaces with these characteristics.
Key objectives for inclusion
Barcelona city council is deeply committed to making Barcelona an
inclusive, socially just city. In the development of the Cristobal de Moura
Green Street project, the following inclusivity goals had been defined:
Connecting disfavoured areas with the center.
Promoting physical and mental health.
Creating safe spaces of transit.
Creating accessible routes.
Building public housing.
Creating spaces for work, meeting and recreation for diverse
collectives.
The idea of the lineal park is to connect the center of Barcelona directly to
the disfavoured Besòs and beyond, to depressed Sant andrià and other
excluded areas.
It offers direct, easy access through a pleasant pacified park street to the
lively center, inviting marginal population to participate more fully in the
social, cultural and economic life of the city.
Health is an important objective of this project. The centrality of vegetation
and the pacification of the street offer a healthier, less polluted
environment. The reduced noise and contact with nature favour peace of
mind and relaxation beneficial both for mental and physical well-being.
The project includes recreational and sports areas for adults, seniors, and
children.
The paths give priority to pedestrians and bicycles, encouraging healthier
mobility options. They are fully wheelchair accessible and make the park a
place which everyone can enjoy.
Safety is important to different vulnerable collectives. The challenge of
creating an exuberant and dense greenery without dark hiding places was
successfully met in this project by layering varying heights of vegetation.
The lineal park includes affordable, public housing and gives the opportunity
to enjoy living in a park environment to people of lower economic
possibilities. It also includes kindergartens, social centres, a public gym,
coworkings, and other social, cultural and educational equipment for a
diversity of collectives to ejnoy.
Results in relation to category
In this project we have successfully implemented the Green Street strategy of passive rainwater management in a previously industrial, semi-abandoned area as part of its regeneration. This strategy takes advantage of the power of vegetation and intelligent planning to manage rainwater at its source, replenishing the aquifer and making this hydric resource available for urban usage. It saves energy typically invested in purification plants, and avoids contamination of natural bodies of water by passively treating rainwater where it falls.
The project balances environmental concerns with mental and physical health benefits for its users and promotes social interaction in a pleasant, relaxing setting.
Vegetation is the protagonist of the project. With it we achieve the aesthetic and experiential objectives of creating a quality city space of peace and well-being. Vegetation also promotes biodiversity and thermal comfort, it saves energy, helps clean the air and reduces noise. In addition it plays a key role in rainwater management by purifying the water on its way to the aquifer.
Multifunctional green areas double as floodable bio-retention areas prepared to absorb rainwater in storm situations. These areas can be used for sports or as play areas and give the street its naturalized look.
Abundant and diverse vegetation has been layered in this project to create lush and abundant greenery without dark, hidden areas which might be unsafe for vulnerable collectives.
The project shows how the needs of humans are best met by caring for the environment and respecting natural cycles, such as the water cycle. Intelligent planing now allows us to make win-win interventions, healthier for humans and mindful of nature.
How Citizens benefit
Cristobal de Moura green street project is part of Barcelona´s innovation
district - 22@. This semi-abandoned, historic industrial district was
reconverted and renewed to attract technological, creative and digital
innovation companies and information workers.
In 2016, after 16 years, the district reassessed its priorities through the
prism of collective, debated and negotiated action, and incorporated into the
decision making process previously unheard voices.
The new goal of the district became finding a common ground between
different views and necessities
and in order to guarantee urban policies that meet local needs.
In order to achieve these goals, the district convened a “quadruple helix”
consisting of the managers of the city (the public sector), those who live
there (community residents), those who work there (the business sector),
and those who reflect upon it (university and research).
In parallel to the meetings of experts representing the quadruple helix, the
district held a participation process open to citizens which included round
tables, exploration routes and digital platforms, aiming to reach as many
people as possible.
These multiple mechanisms of participation have impacted the design of the
22@ district. The Cristobal de Moura Green Street project was informed by
these processes and owes part of its special character to them.
The Cristobal de Moura project answers the residents' demand for more
green, open public spaces. It constitutes a mixed urban area with new
housing, economic activity, green public space and amenities, which are
innovative and experimental for an inclusive, sustainable and healthy city.
Just as it harmonises the functional city street, a relaxing walk in nature and
innovative, passive sustainable water management systems, so it reflects
the needs and desires of the different cultural, social and economic
residents of the district.
Innovative character
The most innovative part of our project deals with rainwater management.
Our solutions serve as a model for rainwater management actions and even
for the drafting of manuals and technical recommendations for urban
drainage.
We implemented the Green Street strategy - a stormwater management
approach that incorporates vegetation, soil, and engineered passive
systems to slow, filter, and cleanse stormwater runoff from impervious
surfaces. It captures rainwater at no energy cost at its source, instead of
directing runoff into storm sewer systems that discharge directly into
surface waters, rivers, and streams.
From the hydrological-hydraulic point of view, the vegetated zones or
bioretention areas have been designed to capture, store and evacuate by
evaporation, evapotranspiration and infiltration processes to the ground, all
the annual precipitation events for a 10-year return period design rainfall
(with a total precipitation of 53 mm per m2 in 60 minutes) in the entire area
including the roof surfaces of the future adjoining buildings. Modeling for the
10-year return period the proposed system reduces the peak inflow to the
unitary network by 100 %.
The rainwater is used to irrigate the landscaped areas directly and
subsequently to recharge the aquifer and recover its level prior to industrial
exploitation to counteract the saline intrusion wedge at the coastal
boundary. Aquifer water will be used as a resource for urban uses such as
irrigation of green areas, etc., through a network created for this nonpotable
phreatic water, avoiding the use of drinking water.
In addition to benefits of water cycle management, other benefits are
obtained from implementing SUDS multifunctional green areas in public
space, such as quality spaces for neighbors, the reduction of the "heat
island" effect through evapotranspiration, which implies energy savings,
reduction of CO2 emissions, improvement of air quality and, ultimately, an
improvement in the quality of life in cities.
