City Thresholds. The role of urban green infrastructures in Madrid

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2020144289

Keywords:

Threshold, Fringe, Peri-urban landscape, Urban green infrastructure, Urban form, Madrid

Abstract

This paper presents an exploration of the thresholds of the city, embodying the concept of Urban Green Infrastructure. In particular, it is a journey through the urban fringe of Madrid, where these green infrastructures, due to their form and history, achieve the sense of urban threshold and act as identity generators of the city. We examine the concept of peri-urban landscape in relation to nowadays challenges of sustainable development, as well as the benefits of Urban Green Infrastructures in the contour of the city. We then take a brief tour though the peripheral landscape of the city of Madrid, where we analyse metropolitan parks and historical green areas that comply its proximity image. After identifying the green infrastructures acting as thresholds in the city of Madrid, we focus on the south-east diagonal of the capital in order to reaffirm its importance in the construction of the image and identity of the city. We defend the importance of Urban Green Infrastructure to and from the city, suggesting the necessity of a supra-municipal planning tool to take change of the peri-urban landscape, usually perceived as subsidiary, to deem the proximity visions of the city as relevant for its design.

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Author Biographies

Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, CEU Universities

Architect by San Pablo-CEU University, Madrid (2016). She has a predoctoral contract FPI (Research Staff Training Fellowship) from University Foundation San Pablo-CEU, where she is also a member of the Heritage, Architecture & Landscape (Patrimonio, Arquitectura y Paisaje) Research Group since 2016. So far, she has been involved in four research projects, two of which funded by state programs. She is collaborating with Newcastle University on a project focused on Green Infrastructure Stewardship and has contributed to the Laboratory of Somatics for Architecture and Landscape of San Pablo CEU University’s Institute of Technology. Her Phd thesis focuses on Green Infrastructures and Tools for the study of perception in Madrid, with published results in indexed journals, book chapters and communications to associated international conferences.

Eva J. Rodríguez Romero, Universidad San Pablo CEU

Architect by the UPM School of Architecture, Madrid (1994) and PhD in Architecture in 1999 by the aforementioned University. She is an Associate Professor at San Pablo-CEU University, CEU Universities. Since 2006, she has led the Heritage, Architecture & Landscape (Patrimonio, Arquitectura y Paisaje) Research Group at San Pablo-CEU University, where she has so far developed seven research projects, four of them funded by state programs. Her field of study is History of the Spanish Landscape and Garden, an she is also developing other research lines in urban form, landscape perception and heritage restoration. She is the author of 5 books, 36 book chapters and 19 scientific articles, many of them indexed in WoS, A&HCI, Scopus and Latindex. She has participated in 29 national and international conferences and is a collaborating member of the Institute of Madrid Studies.  

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Published

2020-11-03

How to Cite

Santo-Tomas Muro, R., & Rodríguez Romero, E. J. . (2020). City Thresholds. The role of urban green infrastructures in Madrid. ZARCH. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, (14), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2020144289

Issue

No. 14 (2020): Mapping the boundaries

Section

Topic papers