Author(s)

JAVIER PÉREZ IGUALADA

Abstract

The paper shows how some water-sensitive strategies that have traditionally been used in Mediterranean agriculture to manage rainwater reappear as basic elements in the design of the main urban parks built in recent years in the city of Valencia, as Cabecera Park, Hesperides Garden, Marxalenes Park and Central Park. The elements associated with the use of the water for agricultural purposes in the Mediterranean context, as canals, ditches, irrigation ponds and cisterns, as well as the terrain modeling with terraces to retain rainwater, are some of the archetypal elements that compose a distinctive anthropic landscape, and provide, in addition to tested solutions for an efficient water management, a set of morphological patterns to design these new parks.

Keywords

landscape architecture, mediterranean agriculture, sustainable urban drainage systems, urban parks, valencia, water-sensitive urban design