Barri Vell Girona 2.jpg — **TOPOS MAGAZINE MARCH 2020**
By **Martí Franch & Sigrid Ehrmann**

A SHORT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM TOUR THROUGH GIRONA

Once considered a quiet medieval Catalan town at the foot of the Pyrenees, Girona’s much-acclaimed culinary scene, scenic landscapes and popularity as a film location have turned it into a mecca for food lovers, cyclists and Game of Thrones enthusiasts. Its close proximity to Barcelona has also led to a considerable growth in population, currently at around 100,000 inhabitants. These phenomena have not only put pressure on the city’s housing market, but also its parks and urban spaces. Yet Girona - the City of Four Rivers – has restored and recovered many degraded and forgotten areas over the past decades.

BARRI VELL

No trip to Girona would be complete without a stroll through the narrow streets of the old quarter- the Barri Vell - past the cathedral with its monumental stairs, the Jewish quarter and the city’s Arab baths, both dating back to the 12th century.

Since the 1980s, the entire streetscape of the historic centre was refurbished by various local architects, following the criteria outlined in the Pla Especial del Barri Vell from 1983. The democratic municipal government initiated the recovery of the degraded city centre after the end of Franco’s dictatorship based on this urban design framework. This pioneering document set out the use of a specific colour chart and limited local materials for the restoration of buildings and public spaces. Advertisements and informal building structures were gradually removed in accordance with the rigorous studies undertaken beforehand. The continuous and repetitive use of materials and colour shades ensured the creation of an encompassing architectural appearance throughout the Barri Vell. The reurbanisation of the longitudinal pedestrian axis of Ciutadans, Cort Reial, Ballesteries, and Calderes Streets, undertaken by amm arquitectes, illustrates this simple, yet sophisticated design vocabulary. The streetscapes blend in seamlessly with its medieval surroundings, while at the same time creating a contemporary feel.

A walk on top of the city walls, whose foundations can be traced back to the 1st century, offers a new perspective and panoramic views over the city and surrounding landscape. Another reurbanisation project, the medieval parts of the wall were restored by architects Bosch, Tarrús i Vives between 1983 and 1986 to create a public walkway, the Passeig de la Muralla.

PARC DE LA DEVESA

Across the River Onyar with its famous bridges and houses lies the Parc de la Devesa, Catalonia’s largest urban park and the main lung of the city. Originally a forest plantation, 2,500 hybrids of Oriental and Western plane tree species, mostly planted in 1850, sit in long rows across the 40 hectares sized park. The tight spacing between trees caused them to shoot upright - most today reach a height of around 50-55m. In the 1960s the park became largely abandoned, and the health of trees suffered consequently, until a community initiative fought to save the park and to re-establish it as a civic space.

Today, as a result of Girona’s urban growth, the park is no longer at the periphery of town, but fully integrated into the urban fabric. Citizens and tourists alike escape to this unique space, a green oasis whose majestic plane trees create an ethereal atmosphere.

GIRONA SHORES

The city’s peri-urban spaces until recently gained little attention from its citizens. Many had been neglected and misused as dumping grounds - until landscape architecture studio EMF paisatge convinced the City Council to send its maintenance team to lend them a hand and convert the as-yet largely inaccessible green spaces into a multifunctional open space structure. Over the past five years, together they have been assessing the landscape, topography, and ecological and seasonal processes of the green spaces at Girona’s periphery, and transformed them through spontaneous interventions. A specific maintenance regime - the differentiated management design - was developed to determine certain areas to be mowed and cleared regularly while others are left to grow, thereby editing the landscape and highlighting its peculiarities. Two pilot projects, one on the hillside above the old town - from the Passeig Arqueològic to the Mina del Calvari - and one along the riverbanks of the River Ter, demonstrate how the gentle beauty of Girona’s abandoned peri-urban spaces was restored and enhanced through a site specific, yet flexible design and maintenance strategy at virtually no cost. Eventually, the open space structure will join up around 600 hectares of green spaces around Girona, with a particular focus on providing new open spaces for marginalised neighbourhoods. Find out more about the Girona Shores project in my blog post.