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Paper 900007
Received 12/02/2009 Accepted 20/08/2009
Keywords: conservation/environment/urban regeneration
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved
The preservation of areas of environmental significance within city boundaries can only be done by taking the human dimension into consideration, including what this means in terms of enrichment, breadth of approaches and allowances for interrelations and mutual effects. Specifically,when access by people to an essentially linear environment is proposed, as in the case of the riparian environment, the desirability of crossings must be considered in terms of the permeability of the river channel and the construction of structures that could make such crossings possible. This paper argues that the design of these structures must be approached in such a way that it adds value to the configuration of the landscape and environment where the structures are built and, in particular, that the design enhances social and geographic aspects and that the integration of such new elements does not detract from the landscape where they are placed.
1. Introduction
Since 1995, the city council of Pamplona has been undertaking an ambitious environmental and scenic recovery plan of the rivers that flow through its municipal district. Figures 1(a) and 1(b) show some of the spaces recovered.
The intervention started with the river Arga, the longest river with the largest discharge volume that flows through the centre of the urban extension; other actions have been planned for the other two rivers, Sadar and Elortz, in the future. Up to the present time, the total amount invested in this plan exceeds J19 million, 80% of this having been subsidised by the European Cohesion Fund.
The plan rests on a basic premise that the preservation and promotion of the riparian environment and its associated ecosystems must take into consideration the temporal flow and evolution of the river. Using that approach, it follows that, as the city develops, it must share certain spaces with the river; consequently, land uses compatible with the dynamics of the river's flow and flood patterns must be anticipated. This approach agrees with the Xi'an Declaration (2005) about the conservation of the setting of heritage structures, sites and areas, which highlights the importance of, among its most relevant aspects, the need to 'develop planning tools and practices to conserve and manage...