A day trip to Zaragoza

Early one Saturday, I boarded a train to travel to Zaragoza, a city located to the north of Madrid. Zaragosa is the capital of the autonomous region of Aragon. It has a population of a little more than 600,000, and it ranks as the fifth largest city in Spain. While on the train, one could see scrubby desert-like plants, and later on a mountainous landscape. Zaragoza seems to be in a transition area.

It took us 1.5 hours to travel 150 miles on the regular train. The high-speed train between Barcelona and Madrid will reduce this time in half. Pretty impressive! Carlos Labarta – Eisenhower Fellow, planner and professor - met us at the train station. It was pouring rain, and we were headed to the largest construction site in the area - the Expo Zaragoza 2008.
The city was recently selected as the host for Zaragoza Expo 2008 expecting as many as 9 million visitors. The theme is "Water and Sustainability," and the city is approaching it as an opportunity for urban renewal and economic development. The regional government is spending more than 1.5 billion euros to prepare for the expo. The majority of the development is in exposition space with plans for reuse as community or municipal facilities. Improvements are being made to the transportation system, new pedestrian areas, a new housing district, and a regional "rail-to-trail" park and bikeway system. The resources being dedicated to such infrastructure and large scale economic development projects is astounding!

Founded some 2000 years ago, Zaragoza is a city rich in history, traditions and culture. The architecture has strong Baroque influence as well as Roman, Gothic and Arabian. Imagine an original Roman amphitheatre as your city's outdoor concert venue! Zaragoza is linked by legend to the beginnings of Christianity in Spain. Legend goes that the Virgin Mary appeared standing on a pillar to Saint James. This legend is commemorated by an extraordinary basilica located on Zaragoza’s main pedestrian plaza. The interiors of the basilica are breathtaking, and the event is commemorated every year in October with a festival of flowers around Columbus Day. The "El Pilar" festival lasts for nine days and there are many festivities – bands, parades and a famous bull festival. The plaza below was constructed about eight years ago. Before, it was a bustling four- lane street for cars with adjacent parking. The transformation to this pedestrian mall required burying the street and the parking. Its quite dramatic as the central mall for the city!

The skies finally cleared as we reached the historic Palace Aljaferia, a beautifully preserved 11th century Moorish palace. The palace had a square plan and is built around an exquisite courtyard garden with orange trees and channels of water. The rooms are arranged around the courtyards. The coffered ceilings are restored to great detail as is the lattice work. The Aragon Parliament is currently housed in this magnificent palace. This was a great opportunity to experience Moorish architecture and landscape design.

Bilbao blows me away

I arrived in Bilbao with the sole purpose of visiting Frank Gehry’s creation – the Guggenhiem Museum - not realizing how much more there was to see. My, was I surprised!

Fundacion Metropoli has organized a meeting with BilbaoRia 2000, the organization spearheading the redevelopment of Bilbao. The meeting with Juan Alayo, Director of Planning and Development, was a rich learning experience about an extremely creative redevelopment strategy for the city.

BilbaoRia 2000 was created in 1992 as a public non-profit development entity for the region in which local, regional and central government have holdings. The company was formed to oversee the recovery of formerly industrial areas located in strategic locations of the city, at a time when there was no effective mechanisms in place for government to do it on their own.

This organization is unique because it acts as a broker – cleaning the land and selling off rights for development to private entities, two things it does really well. It creates a planning framework for the developers in order to create a cohesive development, setting design and planning standards. Second, it puts the resources it harnesses from selling the development rights back into public infrastructure projects such as Bilbao’s high-speed trains, the riverfront development, school construction, new parks and greenways.

The Mayor chairs the board of BilbaoRia 2000, and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Development is its Deputy Chair. Juan gestured around the conference room we were in to indicate that we were in the room where all the development decisions for Basque county get made! Since 1992, BilbaoRia 2000 has been facilitators of more than 600 million euros of real estate transactions.

After the meeting, my visit to the Guggenheim museum and the Abandobarra redevelopment area highlighted the successes of BilbaoRia 2000 since 1992. I walked to the museum from the BilbaoRia offices, and came upon this shimmering, fish-like building walking along the river (Gehry speaks about childhood memories of playing with live carp as an inspiration for the project.) The museum is actually titanium coated and getting closer to the building reveals that the metal plates are used like shingles. The intent of this building was to create a landmark for Bilbao, which it accomplishes very successfully. What is striking is its dynamic relationship to the river and the rest of the riverfront development. It’s hard to believe that the museum was opened just 10 years ago. Access was a priority for this cultural icon, and one approaches the building via tram, across Santiago Calatrava’s beautiful Zubizuri Footbridge, or by walking along the Rio Nervión itself. I spent most of the time looking at the riverfront development accomplishments that are a part of the Guggenheim Museum complex. The development includes a commercial center, new housing, office space, and the second anchor – the Opera House, a complete architectural contrast. All this is linked together with graceful pedestrian bridges, playgrounds, park areas and playful fountains. There is real sophistication with which the riverfront is designed - a complex yet accessible system of pedestrians, bikers, tramways, and yes – cars. It all comes together beautifully. Grassy tram tracks soften the sounds of the passing tramcars. Bikers and joggers zip by. The pedestrian bridges, built at considerable expense, link the new development with old Bilbaoand the local university.


The front of Guggenheim museum has a nice Pennsylvania connection. Gracing the main entrance is a giant floral puppy by Jeff Koons, an artist from York, PA. This giant puppy was installed as part of the opening celebrations as a temporary piece. The citizens loved it so much they asked for it to remain. So every spring this puppy gets decked out in its floral best.I happened to be there when plants had been installed and the scaffolding was coming down. The workers there were happy to be complimented on their fine work. One of them said: "The puppy is the reason why everyone comes to Bilbao." Pointing to the museum behind, he continued, "That’s just its kennel!"

Soaking in Barcelona

Barcelona is an important city for architecture students who have studied the striking architectural works of Antoni Gaudi. (I remember someone mentioning that this is the origin of the word ‘gaudy’ - must google!) However, what breathed new life to this city were the 1992 Olympic Games and the transformations that occurred to accommodate this world event. Today, Barcelona comes across as a city of high-style with a distinctive, if eccentric metro-feel. I only have four days in Barcelona - I must quit sleeping to savor and soak in everything!

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain. Located in the Catalonian region, it serves as a major seaport, boasts a dynamic and bustling mixed-use waterfront and has created a dynamic economic and cultural future for itself. In the mid '80s, anticipating the 1992 Olympics, Barcelona’s then Mayor Pasqual Maragal had the vision to leverage this opportunity and catalyze a massive economic development strategy, positioning Barcelona as a world-class city. This bold approach included an expansion of the airport, transformation of the city's waterfront, and the development of a tourism base based investments in arts and culture as well as a massive promotional campaign. The waterfront is sprinkled with celebrity architects and artists and their creations, giving opportunity for debate and discussion.

The main promenade is filled with activities that appeal to a range of ages and prices. Ritzy restaurants overlook the ocean, and the Gran Casino is prominent on the boardwalk.
People get here on bikes, buses and the train. There are lots of underground parking structures along the waterfront.
New high-tech business areas, a world-class convention center, and the refurbished port that includes state-of -the-art facilities for cruise ships and large scale boats dot the waterfront. Barcelona also has an impressive park system, circling the region as well as smaller neighborhood parks and plazas that serve local communities – their master plan places strong emphasis on parks as integral to neighborhood development. Their largest park in on the hills of Montjuic, and there are many heritage and cultural parks as well.
These spaces were restored and revamped as part of preparations for the Olympic Games. The strategy was not about hosting the games, but about changing the future of the city. Clearly, it worked!

I start my days strolling along palm lined avenues soaking in the city and its ambiance. Striking Gaudi masterpieces pop up along the way. My first day was spent paying homage to this incredible architect. Gaudi did not believe in buildings with straight lines – he proclaimed that nature has no straight lines, so neither must his buildings.
Well, that’s a simplistic way to explain his philosophy, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Park Guell is one of Gaudi’s most impressive works, his version of utopia. The park is built atop a bald mountain area overlooking the city and the ocean, and was initiated by Eusebi
Guell, a wealthy industrialist. Work started in 1899, and so complex was the vision, that Gaudi moved into the park to manage it full time. Today there is a museum at the house Gaudi lived in containing original drawings and models – it was great to pour over these. The park spreads over 15 acres or so, and is a fantastic landscape bringing together opulent built elements with manicured plants and landscape elements.
The most impressive and ornate part is the center of the park which sits on a raised plaza, held up by massive columns and edged with the signature undulating mosaic seats.
The view from up here is breathtaking, one can see all the way to the ocean, with the city as the foreground.
I wonder if JK Rowling drew any inspiration from Gaudi for her Harry Potter series. I can imagine my daughter, a big Potter fan, finding lots of connections! It was great to see the park used, loved and kept up. I spent half a day there, and there must have been thousands of users.

La Sagrada Família is Catalan for "The Holy Family," and Gaudi’s most impressive life-time work. Left unfinished, after dedicating 40 years of his life to this project, Gaudi died in 1926. Yet, the work continued on, as it does today, interrupted by the Spanish Civil War in 1935, and partial destruction of the building by anarchists. Seems to me, there is no better homage to one’s work when it is continued by others!
There is a foundation that was formed to complete the project by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. It is clear that there is great progress being made, including the construction of the central nave, and the support structure for the main tower that is yet to be built.
Even in its state of constant construction, this site is one of the most important attractions in Spain, second to the Prado and the Alhambra. The path for this project remains strewn with challenges; I noticed a sign inside the cathedral protesting the City of Barcelona’s decision to dig under the building for a new metro line!

The Ramblas - In my book, the Ramblas rates No. 1. It’s one of the best streetscapes I have seen. Seems to me, there is a rythmn that Spanish people have; everyone strolls, eats, works, rests and plays on similar schedules.
The entire city stroll along the Ramblas in the evenings. This mile-long street runs through the Gothic quarters of Barcelona, beginning at Plaza Catalunya, the city’s main square and ending at the waterfront. From what I have read, the Ramblas emerged organically, and was never really planned. It is best described as a boulevard with a pedestrian area in the middle and with smaller driving lanes on either side. The entire pedestrian area is filled with kiosks, activities, and benches making it a dynamic place. The landscape is simple, but impressive – London Plane trees placed at 20 feet on center give the space its majestic feel. The trees form a massive archway and serve as the main architectural element of the long corridor. Given how hot it gets, these trees are critical to the success of Ramblas.

Neighborhood Development - My local contact here is with an organization called Foundacion CIREM, an impressive non-profit organization that is focused on new immigrant and social service issues, serving the needs of low and middle income communities with many innovative programs - job readiness training, language help, accessing public services, legal help and more recently socially-based neighborhood planning. My guide is Bernat Gomi, a urban planner in the process of completing his thesis. Bernat is young and enthusiastic, with a great Spanish spirit. It was a real pleasure seeing the city through his eyes, particularly visiting Santa Coloma, a lesser known neighborhood in the metropolitan Barcelona region where CIREM was working to engage new immigrants in a planning and redevelopment process and is now serving as consultants to the city as the plan gets implemented. The overall plan includes massive amounts of new housing and commercial development, as well as jobs training and riverfront restoration. The first phase of the plan, in anticipation of the economic development is focused on addressing the following environmental and social issues:
- Uncontrolled dumps in the city outskirts.
- Need for green and leisure areas in the city.
- Unemployment and lack of professional skills for youth of Santa Coloma
- Need to raise public awareness and individual involvement in environmental issues.
Since 2004, the Santa Coloma de Gramenet community has been able to remove 1,500 tons of trash from its abandoned areas and parks, including massive cleanups along the riverfront. The picture below of the riverbank is new for this community, previously overgrown, polluted and the city’s trash dump.
The city has also invested 3.5 million euros in new parks and plazas, and worked to integrate 60 percent of its youth in job training opportunities. Planting more than 40,000 trees and shrubs has been a big priority. Also, they invested in reclaiming their central plaza as a newly revived open space for the community.
All this was done with CIREM working to engage local neighbors and associations, and in partnership with local municipality and city council and the focus is green infrastructure. Quite impressive!

Hola Madrid (Part 3 - Fundacion Metropoli)

During my travels I am always on the search for other great non-profit organizations. I think its only natural! Well, Fundacion Metropoli is a non-profit organization led by Alfonso Vegara, an Eisehower Fellow. His organization was responsible for the wonderful and diverse program that was put together for my visit to Spain. My program coordinator, Paloma Diaz, was wonderful at seeking out people and officials who could tell great stories and had some specific perspective and expertise.

The organization is internationally based and it seeks to contribute to the innovation and development of cities and regions. Their website is http://www.fundacion-metropoli.org/. Alfonso Vegara describes his interest as harnessing intellectual capital towards the betterment of cities, and to this end, has dedicated himself to seeking out visionary and strategic thinkers all across the world. His strategic partners include leaders from organizations including: Eisenhower Fellowships, University of Pennsylvania, Urban Land Institute, Partner for Livable Communities, International Society of City and Regional Planners, Arab Urban Development Institute, Taller de Ideas, etc, as well as an International Advisory Council comprising 45 urban experts such as Jaime Lerner, ex-mayor of Curitiba and Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London. The organization focuses on best practices and knowledge sharing.

Alfonso Vegara is an architect-planner. He has taught at many academic institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, as well as at several in Spain. Alfonso breathes and lives for the success of cities, and it would be great to get a dynamic group of thinkers together when he is next in Philadelphia.

Visiting their office was a big thrill for me, not just to absorb the nature of their work, but also to experience their Eco-box office building, a great example of innovative energy conservation and utilization. the two principles that the office is based on is to create an environment for creative thinking, and also integrate bio-climatic principles. Unfortunately, I did not get great pictures of the outside. I lost track of time speaking with all the other Spanish Eisenhower Fellows at the party that Alfonso and his wife threw, and then it got too dark. I do have a great book about the building to share when I get back.

Hola Madrid! (Part 2 - Historic neighborhoods)

I spend every minute I can exploring old Madrid. Puerta del Sol is where every newcomer starts in Madrid. This is where the where every the hustle and bustle is - meeting points, traffic terminals, noise, shops, news stands, as well as wonderful 19th century buildings, cafés, bars, restaurants. Spain’s geographic center is located in this energetic square – it is from this point that all roads and highways were measured. I was disappointed not to be able to actually see the center; Puerta del Sol is under renovation to receive a high-speed transit line. As the name suggests, this space is the soul of the city.

Old Madrid is called Madrid de los Austrias. I got lost several times in the cobbled streets and alleyways looking up in amazement at the facades and iron balconies. Luckily, drivers are used to oblivious tourists!

In the night, street lights give these narrow winding streets a mysterious and romantic feel, and one is transported back to the days of royalty. This neighborhood is named for the Austrian Hapsbergs, and is home to beautiful places like the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace and the Opera House.

Nearby is La Latina, home to a huge flea market. When I was there on Sunday morning, it was a bustling place and everyone was looking for a deal! It is said that this is Spain’s largest flea market.

Most everyone escapes from the hustle of the city to Parque del Retiro, Madrid’s signature outdoor space or the Casa de Campo, the royal hunting grounds that have been turned into a regional park.

Developed in the mid-18th century, these green spaces serve as the lungs of the city – with natural areas, manicured plantings, water bodies and impressive alleys of trees. There is something for everyone to do. People love their parks - strolling along the promenades, rowing in the lake, and drinking beer while watching the impromptu entertainers.

Beatriz Blanco, Director of Urban Development for old Madrid is a planner and a poet. She gave me a rich and detailed sense of renewal strategies for central Madrid, and what is being done to accommodate parking areas, new housing, community spaces, etc. in the context of highly density and historic values. My biggest learning in my four-hour walk with her was the emphasis on pedestrian friendly environments - linking important historic areas as well as improving quality of life in the center. There are many zones of the city that are declared pedestrian areas, and neighborhoods have restricted car access for residents only.

High-tech monitoring systems keep track of everyone, and cameras take pictures of cars entering restricted zones, issuing tickets to offenders. Bollards disappear into the ground to allow cars in with the wave of a security card. (I am intrigued by how successfully bollards police traffic flow.)

Beatriz showed some fascinating urban restoration projects, turning abandoned churches into libraries, and installing parking garages under public plazas for local residents.

The principle adopted for historic neighborhoods is to link every public space with a community or cultural destination.

The new housing melds in well, but does not consistently integrate energy conservation techniques. Some of the plazas are inviting, and show signs of community use and support. On one plaza, wooden boxes open out for flower vendors to use during the day.

I was impressed to see a living wall in the heart of old Madrid, done by French designer Patric Blanc. The wall needs a lot of water, sometimes as much as 9 waterings a day, but is impressive nonetheless.

New parks and plazas get a lot of resources (Imagine slabs of granite as the paving of choice!) but could use some more community dialog and innovation. I was lucky to meet with Andres Walliser, from foundacion CIREM, a not-for-profit organization focused on community development and social-service issues. During a tour with him and his wife (punctuated by stops at recommended tapas bars), I got a view of how non-profits operate in the city and the challenging issues of crime, safety, and immigrant integration they are faced with. Andres showed me a recently renovated space, Plaza Luna - completed after an outcry in the community for some improvements.

While I was impressed by the fact that the city spent 4 million euros on this project, the space itself is not as imaginative as some others in Madrid. It all happened rather quickly, given the election season, and the community did not get much opportunity to suggest its future use, it seems.

Overall, old and new come together in splendid style!

Hola Madrid! (Part 1 - The City's Image)

Elections have gripped Spain for the days I have been here - posters everywhere, rallies in neighborhood parks, impromptu soap box speeches in its great squares and plazas, and cruising loudspeakers in vans spinning political messages. Plaza Santa Ana, a paved square in the heart of Madrid’s old city has been my base camp –rich with history, bustling with locals and tourists. I can count as many as 27 Cerverceria’s and tapas bars. Great way to get started in Spain, I think!

Madrid is a city that never rests, it is always celebrating. My question for everyone is ‘when do you sleep?’ While the city has so much to offer in its rich past, its vibrant present and its promising future, I am most drawn to the Madrileños themselves – they are warm, fun loving and free spirited. There are no language barriers when it’s all about beer, tapas and music! This sign at a store, loosely translated says, 'I'm open when I am here, I am closed when I am not. Too bad our timings did not cooincide.' I think the magic of Madrid is its very people.

My days are filled with tastes of Madrid’s past, its present and its future. All three stories are rich and complex, filled with challenges faced by its people and rulers around war and strife, as well as opportunities that were optimized to define Madrid as a center for business and culture in Europe. It seems that Madrid’s central location has positioned this city with an important place in history. There were many forces that gave shape to Madrid, but locals speak most fondly of Carlos III, a king ambitious about positioning Madrid as a premiere center for business and culture.

While there are attempts to trace Madrid’s history to the Romans, its Moorish origins are evident since the 9th century when the city served as a military outpost. It was not until the 14th century when Madrid became the seat of royalty. The period through the late 1800’s were grand years for Madrid when the city became a focus for trade, finance, culture, as well as government. Historians here say that at the close of the19th century Madrid was in a tough place, as with the rest of Spain, having lost its last remaining colonies. The period after this was filled with strife for this great city, with its economic and political crises, unstable governments, civil wars and changing hands of power. It was not until the last 20 to 30 years or so, when Spain emerged, ready to reinvent itself and become a leader in Europe.

Perhaps the single most important event in recent times for Spain has been to enter the European Union and adopt the Euro as its currency. Today, Madrid (and all of Spain) is going through a major economic boom, largely focused on new construction and business development. Evidence of this is everywhere. I chuckled (and was envious) when my program coordinator said that locals have to download new Metro maps every few months because of the rapid rate at which stations are being opened. Besides new metro lines, Madrid has seen many new large scale public and private investments. It seems that successful political careers are directly linked to the massive scale public works projects!

Most government officials say that their biggest challenge is to address the housing, jobs, social service needs of new immigrants that are flocking Spain. From Ignatio Nino Perez, the city’s economic development czar, I learnt that the 3.2 million population of Madrid is a fast changing and dynamic number. As recently as 1999, foreign population was 2.6% while it is 17% now. The City of Madrid created a 10 year action plan for the city in 2000, and is now on course in its 7th year. This plan includes major economic and social projects, and a scorecard is kept on a publicly accessible website. There are a lot of concerns about how to work with new immigrant populations, this is where I think the United States has a lot to offer.

City government in Madrid recently completed a highway submerging project – 15 kilometers of the M 30 ring road was buried to create new open space and rejoin neighborhoods. The project is funded by the city of Madrid (I wonder what their debt service payments are like!) and is almost complete in four years. At a tour organized by city officials, everyone took great pride in their involvement in the project and could not help comparing and contrasting their accomplishments with Boston’s big dig. The tour was very impressive, focused largely on what is being done on top of the submerged highways.

Housing that once was adjacent to a noisy four land highway now have a green frontyard. I was assured that property values have shot through the roof! My tour guide, the project manager for construction said that the main complaint from neighbors was that it was too quiet for them to fall asleep.

Mainly, new recreation areas are being developed that access to Rio Manzanares, Madrid’s ‘apprentice of a river’ (No, I did not come up with the term. It was shared by Javier Cerrano, the city’s housing chief and attributed to Cervantes.) When I did get to see it, I was under whelmed by the river itself (I actually mistook it for a nearby creek much to the disappointment of my guide). I made up for my faux-pas with genuine enthusiasm for how much was being done to celebrate their river. Above grade projects include restoration of pedestrian links between new and old Madrid, huge expanses of green including active and passive recreation, new urban orchards that include recently discovered 100 year old olive trees (Buried under years of brush and debris). I was struck by the artistic tree staking methods - see picture. The additional budget for ongoing maintenance added to the city parks department for this park alone is $ 200,000 euros per year. The planning and design process for all these projects have included select invitations to world renowned designers to bring these celebrities into the city.

Another impressive project is the Torrespacio, four commercial 50 storey towers being constructed to the north of the city and envisioned as the new financial center. The towers have been designed by I.M. Pei, and are a source of great pride for the city. I was able to go up to the top of the towers in a work elevator, and get a great view of the city. It was striking to see a clear delineation between the city and the countryside near the horizon. These towers, like the M-30 project, represent 21st century Madrid, and while neither project is to everyone’s liking, they are symbols of the new economy of this great city.

Belinda Tato, an architect and her partner, Jose Vallejo run an impressive design practice in Madrid called ecosistemaurbano.com. Some of you may remember them as one of the five finalists for Philadelphia’s LandVisions competition. Visiting their office was a treat. They live in a historic building and are currently rehabilitating it as their office and home with a unique contemporary approach. With Belinda, I visited Eco-Boulevard in Vallecas, in the outskirts of Madrid, where over a 1000 units of housing and a new regional park is being built. There are some examples within this vast complex of sustainable housing, but most of the units are typical flats of rental and low to middle income housing. The developments are not inhabited yet, and it was concerning to see how separate this area was, with very little opportunity for local shopping and services. In the midst of this housing complex, Belinda has been involved in creating three eco-trees. They are best described as structures built of metal pipes, fabric and cables that serve as programmable recreation and education spaces. Each one is unique in their appearance, and all three are equipped with solar panels that generate power, which when sold to the local utility company pays for ongoing upkeep. It’s hard to know what these spaces will become when the homes are inhabited, but that is the big experiment – to capture the imagination of its users. I am eager to see how things progress on this bold project.

Matadero Madrid, a rehabilitation project of an old municipal slaughter house, captured my heart! The intent of this ambitious project is to create ‘a great space for contemporary creation’ including facilities for artists, filmmakers, architecture firms, theatre production, exhibits, new technologies, etc. The project is led by Carlos Baztan, who serves as the chief project manager and problem solver for the city. His commitment and zeal for the project is very evident as he speaks with pride about what has been accomplished so far. While by no means finished, I was surprised to see some of the spaces already inhabited, people were walking around construction areas, stepping carefully over construction materials and around scaffolding. Carlos explained that if they kept waiting for the project to be complete, then it would not be able to capture the talents of the local artists who add their own touches to their spaces. One area is dedicated to a multi-media exhibit done by local artists highlighting the neighborhood and its people. Another area is being used as a theatre with all the trappings for full scale professional productions. A whole section is dedicated to set design and filming. What impressed me most, was to see how the defunct warehouses and factories were made useable. Everywhere I looked, I could still see the peeling paint, rust and stains. Glass walls installed inside the cavernous spaces, with floating floors and ceilings are used to create new spaces. These glass cubes are like fishbowls within which all the creative activity takes place. Another asset is the proximity to the newly buried M-30 project which means that Matadero Madrid will someday have direct access to Rio Manzanares. Check out mataderomadrid.com.