P r o p o s a l f o r S u s t a i n a b l e M a s t e r P l a n
695
PROPOSAL FOR SUSTAINABLE MASTER PLAN IN THE VEGA
OF GRANADA
Pablo Jiménez-Díaz and Juan I. Jiménez
Urban climatology and climatic change group, Dpt Applied Physics. University of Granada. 18071 Granada,
Spain
Abstract
The term urbanization once conveyed an image of a city's radial expansion into its rural
surroundings. No longer a distinct physical feature, the urban heat island is being
replaced by a broad and profound transformation of the countryside. Since regional land
cover changes brought about by human activity tend to occur incrementally,
communities often do not realize the extent of their development and therefore, the
possible changes in their environment. The impact of urban development has been
estimated by comparing observations in cities with those in surrounding rural areas.
Granada is medium-sized city (250.000 inhabitants) surrounded by the rich valley of
three rivers, especially the Genil river, in which dwellings are emerging in a seemingly
random fashion along quiet country roads using too much lands previously dedicated to
agriculture, meanwhile increasing the density in specific places in would be a better way
. It is often assumed that the idea of the city is contradictory to the idea of landscape and
nature. Thus more often than not, for landscape architecture projects worldwide today,
we witness the endless proliferation of architecture that literally looks like landscape. Our
proposal challenges these two tendencies. The main purpose of this work is to present
an architectural sustainable self-consistent prototype in energy supplies and water use
as a main organizing element for the master plan of this part of the Vega of Granada, to
manage the regulation of this environment in order to recover and preserve the land use
but also allowing the necessary growing of the city.
Keywords:
Master plan, land use recovery, rational urban growth, self consistent
architectural prototype.
Introduction
The Master Plan concept consists of four interrelated themes –
Land use recovery,
Rational urban growth, The Green Connection
(or sustainability), and
Social and Cultural
Connection (
or urban growth in natural associations with the ecosystems). (Fig. 1) Each
of these themes is really a facet of the same underlying idea; together they form a
cohesive vision.
This Master Plan must communicate to a vast and varied audience the vision of Vega of
Granada and the physical manifestations of that vision upon the site. It is meant to be a
living document, to serve as a working tool to help all involved with the Vega implement
and realize this vision over time. Involvement and input from many people, including,
staff, board, contributors, and consultants, have been essential to
The Planning Process
that has led to this Master Plan.
The
Master Plan
now determines the specific arrangement and use of the spaces within
the Vegan. This arrangement is coupled with the principles mentioned above, and
together they are meant to serve as a guide in the future development of the Vega. The
