The Generalitat’s project for metropolitan floodable parks presents itself as an integral response to the climate and mobility challenges in the Valencia area. With an extension of 1,500 hectares, these natural spaces will act as effective barriers against flooding, while generating a green corridor of 40 kilometers. Their design responds to a new vision of urban infrastructure, which combines environmental protection with territorial functionality, facilitating the connection between municipalities through a network of cycling paths. The objective is to allow sustainable mobility between a dozen towns without relying on the car, promoting more ecological and accessible mobility.
The network of 72 kilometers of cycling paths will link cities such as Picanya, Paiporta, Alfafar, Sedaví, Catarroja, Massanassa, Quart de Poblet, Manises, Paterna, Xirivella, Alaquàs, Aldaia, as well as the hamlets of La Torre, Forn d’Alcedo, Castellar and Pinedo. This connection not only improves daily mobility, but also strengthens cohesion between municipalities. The commissioner for Recovery, Raúl Mérida, highlighted that these routes are especially useful for medium and short-distance travel, the most common in the area, and underlined their key role in the transition towards a more sustainable transport model.
The design of the project has been developed in direct collaboration with the affected municipalities, ensuring that local needs are integrated into the use of the space. In addition, 21 weather stations will be installed to monitor weather conditions in real time and improve the anticipation of extreme phenomena. This participatory planning approach seeks to ensure that the parks not only fulfill protection functions, but also become quality spaces for the community.
The announcement was made on September 22, coinciding with Car-Free Day, during the International Congress on Climate Resilience IURC, held in Valencia. The event brought together experts from cities such as Bologna, Hamburg, Kyoto, Pimpri Chinchwad and Christchurch, who are part of a community of practices led by the Valencian Community. In this forum, Mérida also presented the Mediterranean Center for Climate Intelligence (CMIR), a key tool for predicting climate events up to a year in advance, allowing better preparation for future emergencies.
The project is framed within the recovery after the DANA of October 29, 2024, which generated one million tons of waste. The Generalitat carried out a debris removal operation considered unprecedented, highlighted by the General Director of Quality and Environmental Education, Jorge Blanco, as an example of institutional coordination and commitment of the public service. This experience served as a basis for designing structural solutions that strengthen the territory in the face of future extreme episodes.
To move forward with the execution, the Generalitat will call for an international landscaping competition, whose objective will be to define the design of the parks and begin the construction of the first two sections. The commissioner stressed that these parks will complement the hydraulic works that the central Government must develop, consolidating a joint and coordinated approach to protect the population and strengthen the resilience of the Valencian territory.