The Delicias district is the most highly populated in Zaragoza, boasts considerable economic vitality, is situated at the heart of the major thoroughfares –which bypass without benefiting it – and is structured into three pivots: a historic central zone, a second ring developed in the nineteen-fifties and a last ring dating from the ‘eighties. The district is a city within the city.

Because of this destructuration there is little permeability between the different parts of the district. There is also a lack of investment in housing, the facilities are few and far between and in urgent need of a boost, there is excessive presence of vehicles, a lack of green areas and an absence of a large-capacity public transport system. Commerce is one of the engines that drives the district centre: there are 412 industrial activities against 4,152 commercial ones.

Since 1989 Zaragoza City Hall, through the Sociedad Municipal de Rehabilitación Urbana de Zaragoza – the Municipal Company for the Urban Rehabilitation of Zaragoza (SMRUZ) has been developing rehabilitation policies throughout the city. In the promotion of private rehabilitation, aid to the amount of 34,048,721 € has been granted, which has benefited more than 20,000 dwellings. Since 2001, with the agreement of all the political groups, the scope of application of the Municipal Byelaw for the Promotion of Private Rehabilitation extended to the entire city (around 75,000 dwellings over 40 years old).

In the rehabilitation of Delicias district, the first step taken by the SMRUZ was to promote the creation of a multidisciplinary technical team in charge of conducting a socio-urbanistic study of the district. In the course of the study a great deal of data was compiled by the citizens themselves through 23 in-depth interviews of neighbours’ leaders and discussion groups established according to the criteria of age, gender, social status, nationality and domicile. Both sets of information were added to that compiled by the experts and were translated into lines of action.

The actions proposed are divided into 6 major strategic lines: acquisitions, exchanges and variations in urbanistic figures to reserve space destined for facilities and services: improvement of the public services; sustainability in mobility and recovery of the road space; increase in social and commercial participation; recovery of the public space, rehabilitation of specific areas.

Some of these specific actions are the acquisition of buildings, premises and plots; the creation of a boulevard, a square and day centres; improvement of services in schools; the launch of the Wi-Fi network; construction of pedestrian lanes, elements for traffic calming and protection of pedestrians and underground car parks; modifications in the public transport system; replacement of the current waste collection model and measures to control and reduce noise and radio-electric emissions.

//Proposal by: Edaimon de Juan