On September 21, on World Alzheimer’s Day, the Generalitat Valenciana announced a pioneering initiative: the creation of memory spaces in the metropolitan parks that are being developed on the banks of the Turia and Poyo. These will not only be green infrastructures to mitigate floods, but environments designed to improve the quality of life of people with dementia. The commissioner for Recovery, Raúl Mérida, highlighted that these parks will be “a prototype of a 21st century park adapted to the new characteristics of the population and at the forefront of the most advanced projects in Europe”.
The spaces for memory will have circular paths that avoid the feeling of loss or blockage, intuitive signage and visual reference points. In addition, they will include typical plants of the Mediterranean environment such as rosemary, lavender, jasmine and thyme, whose aromas can activate daily memories. Rest areas with benches, gardens with active gardening, fountains, birds and natural sounds will complete an environment designed to stimulate emotional memory, one of the abilities that tends to be preserved for the longest time in people with Alzheimer’s.
The project not only seeks to improve the well-being of those suffering from dementia, but also to respond to social challenges such as the progressive aging of the population, the increase in allergies and the need for spaces for gentle physical activity and social interaction. Mérida explained that these areas will function as anti-crowd barriers, but also as spaces of inclusion, accessibility and cognitive health.
At the same time, in the Ballesol Valencia centers, World Alzheimer’s Day was celebrated with a symbolic campaign: the hug. Professionals, family members and colleagues shared hugs with residents as a form of emotional communication, remembering that care does not depend only on words, but on closeness, security and affection. This action, accompanied by therapies such as music therapy, Snoezelen Rooms and the Montessori Method, reinforces the integral approach to care, which seeks to maintain the dignity and participation of people with dementia, even in advanced stages.
Both initiatives – the one of the therapeutic park and the one of the hug in Ballesol – show the same truth: the environment, human contact and the design of public spaces can become therapeutic tools. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there are ways to accompany, to remember, to keep the connection alive. And in Valencia, that connection is being built, step by step, between circular paths, rosemary aromas and a hug that does not need explanations.