Urban Green infrastructure as a strategy to address urban energy efficiency and sustainability. A case studythe neighborhood of Milagrosa (Pamplona)

Resumen

The ecological-environmental crisis affecting the planet is largely caused by cities: they occupy 2% of the planet, consume 75% of energy and generate 80% of greenhouse gases. As this crisis is further intensified and climate change threatens human survival, urbanization continues to grow inexorably. According to estimates by the UN in 2018, by 2050 the urban population will grow from the current 55% to 68%. This will mean a percentage increase in urban land cover by 200% and therefore an increase in waterproofed and soil-sealing areas that will aggravate the city’s environmental and climate problems. The urban system is therefore the great challenge of the future of sustainability. The Secretary-General of the Rio Summit declared in this way in 1992, when he stated that the battle of sustainability will finally be decided in the cities. To deal with this aggravation of the urban environmental problem, theoretical strategies and frameworks are needed to address sustainability from integrated approaches that harmonize human (economic and social) and environmental needs. Green Infrastructure (GI) has gained increased prominence in recent years as it has emerged as an essential element in achieving this goal. This is a novel, multi-scale approach, which in the case of cities (UGI urban green infrastructure) aims to contribute to energy savings, to tackle climate change, to increase resilience and to improve the quality of life of citizens, ultimately creating sustainable cities and communities, as outlined by the 2030 Agenda in its SDP Objective 11. From the envisaged approach, the paper presents the initial results of a research study aimed at analyzing the challenges posed by the implementation of urban green infrastructure. The research is approached from the disciplinary field of architecture through a case study of the neighborhood of La Milagrosa, in the Navarrese city of Iruña. It is a neighborhood created in the developing era, characterized, like so many others, by the low residential quality and a use that left few free spaces and consequently few green spaces and street trees. A comparative analysis of the city’s neighbourhoods using GIS tools provides revealing results and, above all, reveals the high intra-urban inequalities with respect to the provision of elements (urban trees) and green spaces. On the other hand, the morphological analysis of the urban space of La Milagrosa shows that the narrowness of the road and the scarcity of free spaces constitute obstacles that require the design of specific strategies and resources to address the renaturalization of such spaces. It is not only about improving the quality of life but about designing alternatives to increase the ecological quality of these disadvantaged areas and ensure their functionality as elements for improving energy efficiency and combating climate change. For this purpose, the alternatives proposed from the framework of the so-called Nature-Based Solutions (SbN) are explored and the necessary changes in the current urban planning model are reflected to meet the challenges of urban sustainability. .