Madrid Metropolitan Forest and the water cycle

Abstract

In the context of global warming and increasing aridity in Spain, Madrid’s Strategic Planning Office is investing in 4,300 ha of forest to link the existing 27,700 ha of large parks. The 32,000-ha Metropolitan Forest aims to improve the quality of life in the city. It is divided into five zones. The 1,250- ha Zone Four project explores a design alternative to the area’s dominant hardscaped plaza and high-maintenance nineteenth-century park from the notion of the artificial pastoral. It magnifies the water cycle in three new and recovered historical aspects: increased floodable areas, a network of natural and artificial green-blue infrastructures, and an increased volume of used regenerated water and sludge to support a palette of forested landscapes. The project also contributes to slow mobility, civic nodes and connectivity infrastructures between the city and the Metropolitan Forest. Historically, compact Mediterranean cities like Madrid have had an aversion to trees. Fortunately, recent initiatives by the city are changing course, allowing both urban forestry and forest urbanism to flourish.