URBAN ROOTS in Valencia

Due to the nature of our work, we travel quite a lot, and every now and then we come across something that really makes us stop and think.

This time, it happened in Valencia.

The city once had a river flowing right through its centre. 🌊 In 1957, the Turia River flooded, causing major damage and loss of human lives. After that, the authorities decided to divert the river away from the city.

What was planned instead of the river? A highway.

But the people of Valencia had other ideas. They pushed back and demanded that the space stay green. And they won. Today, the former riverbed is the Turia Gardens, a 9-kilometre green corridor running through the city, with playgrounds, sports areas, cultural spaces, walking paths, and plenty of room to relax. It has become one of the largest urban parks in Spain. 🌳

And here’s the really impressive part. In October 2024, Valencia was hit by devastating floods, with some areas receiving a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours. The diverted Turia River and the city’s flood-control system helped protect the city centre from the worst of the flooding. 😮

After exploring the Turia Gardens, we headed to La Vall d’Uixó to meet the teams of the Urban ROOTs project 🇵🇹🇦🇹🇬🇷🇲🇰🇱🇻🇪🇸. Together, we shared updates on the urban gardens being developed in our countries and discussed the workshops and webinars coming up in the next months.

Valencia is a great reminder that when cities make space for nature, they make space for people too. 🌻

Keep an eye on what we’ll be doing next. 👀

URBAN-ROOTs: Youth-Led Regeneration is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.