What is urban renaturalization? How is it possible to reintegrate nature into the urban environment? With increasingly limited access to nature for the population and growing exposure to environmental hazards such as noise or air pollution, resource scarcity, climate change, and more, the development of "renaturalized" spaces in cities is seen as a tool capable of improving the quality of life for citizens and designing spaces for gathering, resting, and leisure areas for the common good, while also balancing urban development with biodiversity and the benefits of ecosystems. One of the many architecture firms involved with this concept is 08014 arquitectura, based in Barcelona, which, through its Plaza-jardín Rocafort and Paseo Comte D'Ègara projects, aims to revitalize certain urban areas, paying particular attention to improving the quality of life for citizens and their connection to the natural environment.
Currently, more than 50% of the world's population lives in cities, and this trend is expected to continue increasing. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 68% of the population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050. The question is, is the current development of green spaces in cities keeping pace with the growth of populations worldwide?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is recommended that there be a green space approximately 300 meters in a straight line from each residence. However, only 27% of the world’s cities have a moderate or high level of green spaces, according to the information collected by The Lancet Countdown. The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) has confirmed that living near green spaces offers numerous health benefits, both for adults by reducing stress, increasing life expectancy, and slowing physical decline, and for children by improving attention capacity, emotional development, and behavior.
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In addition, strengthening the role of nature in cities and placing both health and well-being at the center of urban design helps promote healthier and more sustainable environments. Urban renaturalization contributes to reducing air and noise pollution, as well as the heat island effect, and mitigates urban warming. Providing natural habitats for local flora and fauna species in urban settings enriches the biological diversity of cities and can restore damaged ecosystems. Beyond helping the mental and physical well-being of residents, it also encourages their interaction and participation in community activities.
The 08014 architecture studio, made up of Adrià Guardiet and Sandra Torres, focuses its attention on developing an architecture that balances the needs of each project with the relationship between architecture, city, and territory, intermediate spaces, flexible structures, and bioclimatic design. Recently, they have developed two public space projects that aim to revitalize and renaturalize certain urban areas. These projects incorporate solutions such as pavements that reuse and recover materials like cobblestones hidden under asphalt, as well as drainage treatments that restore natural water cycles and improve aquifer levels.
The Before and After of the Rocafort Garden Square
The re-urbanization project of the intersection of Consell de Cent and Rocafort streets in Barcelona transforms a space previously dominated by cars and primarily dedicated to economic activities into a garden square, a pedestrianized, accessible, inclusive, and safe space, as well as green, biodiverse, healthy, permeable, and shaded.
The project is part of the Ejes Verdes Plan, which proposed the pedestrianization and renaturalization of one out of every three streets in Barcelona's Eixample district, aiming to transform 21 streets into green axes and 21 intersections into squares within ten years. However, after completing the works on 4 axes and 4 squares, the project was put on hold in 2023.
The proposal by 08014 arquitectura stems from a de-construction action, demolishing a 31x28m surface to transform the space into a naturalized environment with permeable soil and a wide variety of plant species. The central area is formed by six vegetated flower beds of various strata, along with six gravel paths that converge at the plaza’s core. The design seeks to connect and isolate the transition between the open central space and the plaza’s perimeter, where the paths ensure continuity of urban flows while the flower beds create a vegetative boundary that acknowledges the static order of the plaza and reinforces the contrast between the naturalized center and the urbanized perimeter.
More than 30 plant species have been selected to meet the needs of water and sunlight, capture CO2, enhance biodiversity, occupy different strata, provide a variety of colors, and alternate in height, canopy diameters, and blooming periods. Nearly half of the rainwater collected by the plaza infiltrates the subsoil, either through the flower beds or infiltration wells located in low-lying areas, helping restore the natural water cycle and improve aquifer levels. This transformation results in nearly a 50% increase in pedestrian space, a 25% increase in permeable and vegetated areas, and a doubling of the number of trees, significantly boosting biodiversity.
The Before and After of the Passeig Comte D'Ègara
In one of the main urban axes of Terrassa, the Passeig Comte D'Ègara project takes place along a street segment approximately 125 meters long and 15 meters wide, consolidating a 'street-plaza' divided into two strips: one circulatory with pedestrian priority and another serving as a transition between the street and the gardens, featuring flower beds and benches to break the linearity of the street and create spaces for social interaction.
In integration with the project to expand the pedestrian zone in the urban center, the proposal aims to calm traffic, improve connectivity with the gardens, and create areas for neighborly socialization. In this way, the goal is to enhance the connection between the street and the gardens by dissolving their boundaries through a shared public space for coexistence. The continuity of the urban axis Portal de Sant Roc - Escuela Industrial is reinforced by removing certain obstacles, reorganizing the terraces of the bars, and constructing stairs to bridge the elevation difference between the gardens and the street.
The use of ceramics predominates in the project, seeking to create a connection with the city’s industrial past. Heritage elements are incorporated, such as an old fountain converted into a flowerbed, stone benches recovered from the gardens, and cobblestones hidden beneath asphalt for decades. Additionally, they have chosen to re-naturalize the public space with trees and vegetation, increasing permeable surfaces to contribute to restoring the natural water cycle and improving aquifer levels, similar to what they have developed in the Rocafort garden square. CO2 emissions associated with the urbanization of Passeig were limited through technical solutions and materials, such as manufacturing all the ceramics for the project in biogas kilns, recycling the aggregate from the concrete foundations, and reusing some of the existing base material while the rest was made from recycled aggregate.
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