Valencia Parque Central

Defined by bold features and the use of water throughout, Parque Central distils the historical, cultural, and horticultural heritage of Valencia into an engaging contemporary park and public space. The first phase (11.5ha) is comprised of five key multi-level gardens and re-purposed railway buildings that collectively serve as a focal point for a range of age groups and community uses.

The varied, multi-level gardens have been created as a series of large ‘bowls’ – inspired by the region’s traditional ceramics – manifesting as concave basins in the natural landscape, created by sculpted landforms. They define the five key areas of the park: there is (1) the Children’s Garden, (2) the Romantic Garden, (3) the Flower Garden, (4) the Orchard Garden and (5) the Demetrio Ribes Arts Plaza.

Water pools, jets, and channels welcome visitors to the park and encourage interaction and play. The colourful and sensory planting palette draws on the flora and fauna of the region, becoming a vital new ecological component within the city. A range of materials including marble, granite, and Calatorao limestone typical of Valencia are used throughout, with compacted gravel used for pathways within the garden.

Inspired by a poem written by Valencian writer Ausiàs March: ‘Water full of wisdom’ (Aigua plena de seny), the design is unified with water as its overarching theme. The design considers the water found in the immediate region, including the Túria River reserve, the irrigation channels of the agricultural plains (La Huerta), the lake within the Albufera Natural Park (Parc Natural De l’Albufera), and the Mediterranean Sea. Water is both a structural and restorative element organising the park's design. At each entrance of the park visitors are greeted by a unique water feature that filters into a canal that leads them inwards, as part of the scheme’s navigational strategy.

Parque Central also debuts a progressive sustainable drainage strategy, whereby the series of landformed bowls discreetly collect rainwater that drains into a buried centralised reservoir that treats and recycles water back to the city.

Developed over eight years, the first phase of the park now connects various neighbourhoods that were previously separated by the railway tracks and terminus. It has already precipitated urban renewal in the adjacent downtown barrios of Ruzafa - now popular with cafés, bars and boutique shops - and Malilla. The new park is part of a larger project that will eventually see the city’s main trainlines relocated underground to free up a total of 66 hectares of land, a project begun under the late former Mayor Rita Barbera. More than half of the area will be planted, and the completed 23ha park will help to resolve important problems by reintroducing biodiversity, creating new public space, providing cultural and office facilities, reversing physical and social segregation, improving the quality and supply of water, and increasing mobility and accessibility among the surrounding residential neighbourhoods.

The Parque Central project sits in Valencia’s long history of a city reinventing itself through large-scale urban development projects. The park is considered one of the city’s most significant urban redevelopments undertaken in the 21st century.