The climate change that worries the planet so much is forcing Barcelona City Council to review the design of the city’s green areas. Thus, the traditional grass, for example, always a sign of quality of life and sometimes even ostentation, is in clear retreat, and the drought is doing nothing other than accelerating its retirement. In addition, many species are being replaced by others more resistant to heat and water scarcity. The City Council is also incorporating new systems for using rainfall. A walk through the city with technicians from the Parcs i Jardins municipal institute helps to imagine a very near future.
Do you remember the once green and once rather yellowish flowerbeds of Mistral Avenue? because his image is already part of Barcelona’s past. They are an example of what will never be done again in this city. These gardens in the Sant Antoni neighborhood with so much grass arranged above all to brighten the view represent an already obsolete model in these latitudes. The Parcs i Jardins technicians detail that the grass will not completely disappear from the city’s public spaces, but it will lose its ornamental character, it will be intended to provide comfort. “We will use it as a pleasant pavement, so that citizens have somewhere to lie down for a while or exercise.”
And the municipal technicians emphatically emphasize that the benchmark for the future is the green areas of Cristóbal de Moura street, in the Provençals del Poblenou neighborhood. Shortly after opening this axis of about 3,500 m2, in 2020 it received the award in the local actions category, “for its contribution to a greener and more resilient city”, of the fourth edition of the Albert Serratosa City and Territory award from the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports of Madrid. “They are the role model.” Yes, in reality those responsible for Parcs i Jardins have had climate change in mind for years. The drought did nothing other than convince them that there is no turning back.
Because, as there are so many of them, lawns need a lot of water, as well as fertilizing and mowing every now and then. In Paris, London and Saint Petersburg it is always very manageable, but in those cities they never had to worry about watering their vast expanses. Heaven always took care of it. What happens is that in Barcelona it is very different and in the coming years it will be even more so. The latest rainfall shows that our rains will be increasingly torrential, irregular and punctual. The new challenge is to take advantage of these storms, and also to adapt to them.
In Mistral, the flower beds barely absorb a small part. The earth ends up spitting them out. But in Cristóbal de Moura they have a sud s, a Sustainable Urban Drainage System, an infrastructure designed so that the subsoil accumulates the greatest amount of water possible, so that it retains it and does not spit it out, and the trees and plants enjoy it. little by little. The kind of sandbox that appears in the photograph of Cristóbal de Morua is intended to retain precipitation. The entire pavement of the place is much more permeable than the Mistral flower beds. The suds can also be found in the park still under construction in the old Castells neighborhood, in the Marina del Prat Vermell, in the Can Raventós gardens, on Consell de Cent street, in the Bon Pastor neighborhood… The objective is make Barcelona a sponge city. “The idea is to implement them in most of the new green areas, but it has limitations. It cannot be placed near the facades or where the groundwater is shallow, as in many parts of Poblenou.”
The new role of grass in Barcelona is being advanced by the Castells neighborhood park, in Les Corts, whose works will conclude in a few weeks. Here, as can be seen in the corresponding photograph, this new green area already has a large central circle of natural grass intended for people to lie down on, and also a ring of artificial grass, in the calisthenics area, so that Visitors can exercise and sit. Technicians say that the grass will only be maintained exceptionally. Some examples: that of the Clariana de Glòries, because its citizen use was now completely consolidated, and also that of the Ciutadella, because it also constitutes a typical postcard of the city. But it will not be planted in the second phase of the Glòries remodeling.
And in Cristóbal de Moura, instead of grass, they planted species better adapted to high temperatures, lack of rain and occasional rainstorms. We are talking about shrubs and aromatic plants, such as sage, rosemary and ivy, and also succulents typical of the desert: cacti of all kinds and also small palm trees. The replacement of species also affects trees. Poplars, elms, lindens and all riverside species, trees that need abundant water, are also being relegated. Horse chestnut trees are barely found in the city anymore. For a few years now, plane trees, one of the hallmarks of Barcelona, ??have only been replaced on main roads where they are part of the landscape shared by people, such as the Rambla. Little by little the hackberries take their place. “The shade of the plane tree is of better quality, because it is more refreshing and less dark, but the hackberry needs less water and less space.”
The renew operation is not anecdotal. It comes from a while ago. But the drought itself is slowing it down. The restrictions prohibit the irrigation of lawns, shrubs and seasonal flowers, so that lately they have hardly been planted. And the trees that were planted in areas outside the groundwater network are not replaced either. At the moment this system barely reaches 20% of the city’s green areas.
In any case, expanding the calendar, looking at Cristóbal de Moura, we see that jacarandas and other subtropical species have been gaining prominence for years. Brazilian jacarandas were planted for the first time in Barcelona about a hundred years ago, in Montjuïc, and until now their presence in the city has always been exotic. And a few birds of paradise finish drawing the new landscape. The sculptural designs of so many green areas in northern Europe seem completely unsustainable here. The new model is making its way little by little.
