First Prize International Competition: Urban Revitalization of Mass Housing.

Description project by Improvistos.

The Orba neighborhood is located in the southern part of the metropolitan area of Valencia, in eastern Spain. It is strategically situated between a large area of traditional orchards and the wetlands of Albufera Natural Park. These two distinct landscape areas are interrupted by the spread of urbanization to the south. The progressive deterioration of the traditional irrigation channels has caused the Mediterranean ecosystems such as the narrow riparian forests, the coastal lagoon, the dunes and the riceelds to be no longer connected.

This residential suburb consists of a series of very similar housing blocks of - oors, arranged in north-south or east-west direction. The locality is slowly losing population since the construction and furniture industries slowed down.

Citizen activism has been of vital importance since the s to claim basic amenities such as primary school and public open spaces. Productive gardens and some social services are only possible thanks to bottom-up initiatives but they nd no ofcial support. Civic associations are currently demanding the administration to meet the commitments on social housing policies.

Inhabitants seem to be aware of the need for the city to grow in terms of quality, rather than in square meters. There are some vital upgrading changes in the housing blocks to be introduced through a participatory approach within an overall strategy.

Beyond the environmental commitment, the locality iniciates a new transformation process through a series of interventions in the cycle of wood, water, energy and productive activities so that it can revitalize itself. This supporting warp, based on the inhabitant's activity, takes shape in the upgrading of the housing units. Thus, 'recycling' is taken literally in this project as reinserting a cycle dynamics in the urban structure of the neighborhood.

The project proposes low cost, modiable, non-denitive solutions. The participation approach is implemented through co-nancing, and co-designing criteria in the management system. The changes can be self-promoted for every 20 housing units sharing a single access in the blocks, strengthening the community identity.

A participatory scheme for inhbabitants to exchange space, services and goods relying on the community, offering what they don t use and obtaining what they need.

A range of spatial interventions to adapt the buildings to its new uses is made; from the more reversible just a temporal change of use of a space or light interventions to the more permanent the extension or connection of a house on the facade, the transformation of the pitched roof into a at one for community exploitation or changes on the building structure.

All these spatial changes will be carried out by local workers with the wood products structural elements, enclosures, furniture produced by the proposed new local wood industry of the neighborhood.

The Territorial Action Plan and the Social Housing Programs of the municipalities recognize through analysis the deep and inevitable change that must take place in urban policies. However, their proposals demonstrate no real commitment to the revitalization of residential areas. The review of some recent transformations in the region shows a choice embodied and freezed in the planning regulations for new construction projects, demolition of consolidated areas and relocation of its inhabitants. The Local Urban Plan is a very unexible tool to meet new challenges and its update has been long attended. As a basic regulatory framework for new building activities it does not expect upgrading processes for the built environment.

The creation of an Urban Renovating Area for the Orba Neighborhood could be of utmost importance. This existing tool would help address new strategies like the ones proposed.