Uncovering Irrigation Canals and Retrieving ‘Agricultural Strata’ in the City

Abstract

The transformation of urban water networks and the influence on historical irrigation canals have been well studied by different authors. Specifically, the processes of covering streams, channels, and ditches are a recurring episode, reaching, with different degrees and at different times, a point where most of the pre-industrial city water network remains completely covered or closed. After the discredit of the excesses and abuses of stages of developmentalism, the recovery of urban canals is becoming generalized, is becoming generalized, with a vision of a comprehensive hydraulic strategy. The article presents, in three initial sections, the current status of the recovery of urban waterways. In the first section, ecological approaches which are transferred to new tools of hydraulic management and urban project are reviewed. In the second, the recent interventions for the re-discovery of waterways in the city are analyzed, and in the third, the new sensitivity shown in Spanish cities towards the cultural and environmental heritage of agricultural spaces is reviewed. The last section presents the potential of Zaragoza to discover the water network of the agrarian structure that maintains its functionality under the streets of traditional neighborhoods. The ‘orchard-city’ status and the opportunity to integrate irrigation canals in the urban regeneration plans should be two main ingredients of a 'city project' that continues with the achievements of the 'riverbanks recovery' projects in 2008.