DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR THE LANDSCAPE ACTIVATION OF “HUERTA DE MURCIA”
Set of interventions belonging to a territorial strategy whose goal is to activate the traditional irrigation area known as “Huerta de Murcia”, providing it with quality of use, design, and identity. From a contemporary point of view, new uses are encouraged to conserve and enjoy its nature and heritage, preventing its deterioration and highlighting its value. Current actions: design of Routes on GoogleMaps; design of signage; reconditioning of a route; Educational Workshops; design of a stand.
Local
Spain
Murcia municipality. Región de Murcia
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2020-11-01
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Santa-Cruz Arquitectura Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: JUAN ANTONIO Last name of representative: SANTA-CRUZ GARCÍA Gender: Male Nationality: Spain Function: CEO Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: PANTANO DEL CENAJO, 2 bajo Town: MURCIA Postal code: 30007 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 625 06 55 77 E-mail:estudio@santa-cruzarquitectura.es Website:https://santa-cruzarquitectura.es/
This project, whose objective is the environmental, patrimonial, and human activation of the Huerta de Murcia territory, brings together various practices that address through design (digital, educational, environmental, and architectural) the improvement of this degraded environment.
It is a set of 5 interventions that are part of a territorial strategy whose objective is the activation of the Huerta de Murcia territory, giving this landscape a quality of use, design, and identity. Through a contemporary reading of this productive territory, new uses are promoted from different formats, which help to preserve and enjoy its nature and heritage, putting it in value and avoiding its deterioration.
Actions currently performed:
STRATEGY 01 (S01): Visualization (web-smartphone) in GoogleMaps of 20 walking-bicycle routes, geolocating points and sections of environmental, patrimonial and security interest, generating a network of itineraries in the landscape informed remotely and on-site.
STRATEGY 02 (S02): Vertical and horizontal signage for the Huerta de Murcia based on criteria of craftsmanship, ecology, identity and digital manufacturing.
STRATEGY 03 (S03): Conditioning of Route 1. La Aljufía, allowing the transfer of the layout from the digital medium to the real one, providing the itinerary with its own signage, as well as the incorporation and conditioning of small, equipped areas. It includes the rehabilitation of the remains of the Molino de la Pólvora.
STRATEGY 04 (S04): Educational workshops “Irrigation Roots” on the historical, natural, toponymic values and the physical layout of the irrigation system of the Huerta de Murcia using two customized didactic devices (Canal Mapping and Canal Printer).
STRATEGY 05 (S05): Design and manufacture of the information point for the activities of the Week of the Garden that incorporates the reinterpretation of a section of ditch with its riverside vegetation, placed on the layout of the Aljufía underground ditch.
Territorial Identity
Landscape Activation
Phygital
Heritage
Biodiversity
The territory on which we live is the basis of our development, our actions and relationships are conditioned by the environment in which we operate. But, as our cities have grown giving their backs to their natural environment, erasing the traces of their original landscape, it is difficult for their inhabitants to establish an affective bond with something with which they do not know how to relate, much less take care of it and respect it. Therefore, this project aims are educating and raising awareness about how valuable our cultural and natural heritage is, since our future depends on this education. Knowing our roots leads to consolidate our future.
Establishing means for the comprehension of our Territorial Identity is the basis for urban and social development success in the era of Sustainability.
As a result of this reflection, the concept of Territory and Landscape Activation was born for us, which we understand as the ability to value our natural environment so that it is attractive to the citizen and people want to live and enjoy it, promoting their knowledge and thus allowing that affective bond that can provoke a social demand of respect and care of our ecosystem to arise.
This work on the territory and the environmental, patrimonial, and human landscape of the Huerta de Murcia, brings together various interventions that address research, disclosure, design and the creation of various products (digital, services, training-educational, informative and architectural), the attraction and improvement of this degraded environment.
It is a set of 5 interventions that shape a Territory Activation Strategy, giving this landscape a quality of use, design and identity, to improve the link of the population with its territory and its Territorial Identity, helping to conserve and enjoy its nature and heritage, putting it in value and avoiding its abandonment. With the aim of achieving a model of sustainable and respectful urban growth.
All these interventions together aim to give this unique landscape a quality of use, design, and identity, which allows citizens and visitors to enjoy all the existing heritage, conserve it and put it in value, providing access to it and generating all the information necessary for their comprehension.
The Routes (S01) are displayed on Google Maps, to guarantee the major access for citizens, not having to download specific Apps.
For the Routes Signage (S02), the artifacts for Educational Workshops (S04) or the Information Stand (S055), we aim to generate a unique visual identity for this landscape. Using natural materials present in this environment such as cane (Arundo Donax) or wood, together with long-lasting materials used for contents such as methacrylate (100% recyclable prescribed), we look for its integration and uniqueness, generating their own and innovative type of signage and creating a material, geometric and chromatic imaginary close to the nature of the place, highlighting specific fluorine elements to capture the user's attention.
For the Strategy 02, a whole series of signal typologies is studied in detail to adapt its use to each situation and guarantee an excellent experience. From directional signals (simple and compound), beacons, regulations, and various format themes. In addition, all the informative signals are communicated to the web by means of QR codes, for a greater expansion of the content and a connection with the digital medium, enriching the physical experience of the citizen.
On the other hand, using cane as a material for manufacturing the signs, we recover the trade of the cane craftsman, currently in disuse.
For the conditioning of Route 01 (S03), its entire layout is carefully studied, guaranteeing its continuity, safety, ease of use, the layout of periodic rest areas in locations of interest (environmental or heritage) and aesthetic integration of all interventions in their environment.
This project also addresses the full accessibility by citizens to the knowledge of the various natural, landscape and heritage elements, both from the physical and the digital plane.
On the one hand, the inventory and digitalization of places of interest, routes, and heritage, allows full access to this information and the correct planning of visits and possible educational workshops. The information is easily accessible through mobile devices and easily interpretable to favor the intergenerational nature of the project.
On the other hand, the physical conditioning of the route necessary to make the route fully accessible is also addressed, minimizing the footprint of the intervention and respecting the existing vegetation. Preventive and directional signage allows the correct use of the route by pedestrians and cyclists; and the interpretive and informative signage, allows the correct knowledge of the natural and heritage landmarks and nearby services.
The necessary works and interventions are generated to guarantee the proper use and enjoyment of the itineraries, incorporating small, equipped areas that allow, on the one hand, to provide the route with resting places and, on the other, to provide the districts with areas of daily recreation for the neighbors. These stops will be endowed with elements of native vegetation, benches, parking spaces for bicycles, and sometimes fountains.
The educational workshops are adapted to the different ages and abilities of the children, providing a fully inclusive playful environment capable of provoking different learning situations.
The awareness of belonging to a place and the knowledge of its origins allows a projection of future growth of diverse, equitable and respectful communities.
Citizens have become involved in the project thanks to the collaboration of stakeholders who have given support and visibility to the actions that have shaped the Strategy.
For example, thanks to the Barrios con Arte Association, we were able to involve different neighbourhood representatives in the design of the Strategy (such as presidents of parents' associations of neighbourhood schools or business associations, among others).
On the other hand, thanks to the collaboration of the Neighbourhood Council, we were able to include the first Workshops in the programming of the neighbourhood festivals and take them to the first schools in the area.
In the same way, thanks to the City Council we were able to take the workshops to more schools in other areas of the city and locate the information stand on the routes on the streets.
The inclusion of these activities in the program of the Semana de la Huerta, also allowed us to interact with many citizens at street level.
The main stakeholders that have been involved in this Project and have promoted its execution are, at a municipal level, different departments of the Murcia City Council (Urban Planning, Tourism and Education) and, at a district level, various Neighborhood Councils.
The birth and process of the Project itself has been the result of citizen participation. The Project arose in parallel between two work fronts. On the one hand, with the initiative of the City Council (Virtualization of routes through the Orchard) and on the other hand with the Neighborhood Council initiative (Taller Raíces de Regadío).
Our architecture studio joined the Barrios con Arte Association that emerged in the neighborhood where our studio is located. This association sought to improve the quality of urban space through art and in this context, we came up with this workshop to achieve a feeling of belonging among the neighbors. This activity was carried out for the first time at neighborhood festivities, then the Neighborhood Council continued to hold the workshop in the neighborhood's main park, and finally had such an impact that the City Council itself, through the Department of Tourism, incorporated it into their activities to celebrate Garden Week. And it was in this context that the idea of creating the Information Post arose.
Along with emergence of the Barrios con Arte Association, the City Council, through the Urban Planning Department, had entrusted this study with the task of virtualizing tourist routes through La Huerta. This led to the development of the 5 different strategies at the same time.
Subsequently, and after the good reception of the workshops by the residents, the Department of Education offered the possibility of holding educational workshops in different schools in the municipality, which helped multiply the scope of this initiative.
It is easy to understand that this project presents a high degree of multidisciplinarity since it encompasses different physical and digital strategies oriented towards a common objective.
In an initial phase of analysis and documentation, the intervention of different disciplines was necessary, including architects, urban planners, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers and landscape designers. The teamwork of the different participants allowed a global and ambitious vision that was not limited to a mere documentation and adaptation of the place, but rather made the project acquire a pedagogical and divulging purpose.
The experiences of this teamwork and the results obtained by analysing the current relationship of the urban fabric and its traces from the past led us to the conclusion of the need to carry out, in collaboration with educators and pedagogues, educational workshops for children, so that help them understand the need for sustainable urban growth that is respectful of the landscape environment.
The incorporation of craft trades in the manufacture of signs and artifacts that are used in the workshops and the stand favoured the knowledge and recovery of traditional trades that are now in disuse.
The entire digitization process was a challenge that was addressed in collaboration with computer scientists, web designers, and ICT, which led us to the conclusion of the importance of implementing the phygital methodology in this project, so that we were able to simultaneously connect the visit to the traditional elements and the physical landscape with a digital user experience.
This project was conceived as a strategy to be continuously growing and evolving. The geolocated routes in Google Maps or the City Council website that collects information about them are continually being consulted and, today, they have received almost a million visits. Which, for a population of approximately 400,000 inhabitants, represents an important performance that will have a favorable impact on the recovery of the landscape through which these routes run.
The signage design is fully implemented on the La Aljufía route, having received an excellent reception by users, which has led it to be used on other routes and point of interest belonging to the Huerta de Murcia to help build their own uniform identity and help the citizen to identify this landscape in its entirety. A prototype of the signposts was exhibited at the Central del Diseño de Matadero in Madrid on the occasion of the Ibero-American Design Biennial 2020.
The conditioning of the La Aljufía-Contraparada route includes the refurbishment of the Viejo Molino de la Pólvora, which has become a public space widely visited and used by residents for public events and citizen participation, providing a unique natural and archaeological setting. Visitors have left numerous positive reviews of their experience visiting this place that can be found on Google.
The educational workshops have been carried out both in cultural activities dedicated to the Huerta de Murcia and in numerous schools in the municipality, getting a high degree of acceptance and participation by teachers and children.
The set of strategies received a mention for Design and Citizen Participation by the 2020 edition of the Ibero-American Design Biennial and by the German Design Awards. It has also been the subject of publications and conferences by the University of Murcia, which has recognized the informative value of the cultural and landscape heritage of this proposal.
One of the most innovative aspects of this project is the use of phygital concept to build an educational project that will lead people to embrace their territorial and cultural heritage.
This intervention addresses, from the virtual world, the way to communicate, promote and enhance the environmental, patrimonial, and human landscape, through the digitization of routes (S01) that allow you to enjoy the selected elements and points of interest. In combination with the physical conditioning of the routes through signage specifically designed for this area, and which is used, in general, in all public spaces that are designed located in the Huerta de Murcia.
The project generates a catalogue of signposts (S02) that range from those that allow the orientation of the cyclist or pedestrian on the route, as well as the informative ones, which allow to know the points of interest, adapting to the different thematic situations communicated to the City Council website through QR codes for a greater extension of the contents and a connection with the digital medium.
In the same way, the Educational Workshops (S04) and the Information Stand (S05) combine, on the one hand, the physical experience of the place through materials designed and built for direct and intergenerational interaction, and on the other, the use of digital systems, using cartographies based on GIS, as a map made from an IMIDA study, with the irrigation network, accessible through QR codes and displayed on GoogleMaps app.
Another innovative aspect is the use of a contemporary language and design to change the way citizens relate to the landscape. The use of natural materials such as cane and technological materials such as methacrylate look for an integrated, unique and innovative signage for this landscape, building a material, geometric and chromatic imaginary close to the nature of the place. A mix between craftsmanship (cane and wire) and digital manufacturing (NCC cutting and engraving)
An interdisciplinary and phygital strategy has been our approach to this project for each one of its interventions.
For the design and digitalization of the routes (S01), we combine the physical experience of the cyclist who designs, geolocates and documents the routes and heritage or environmental landmarks, with the digital experience of the architect who compels all this information with system tools geographic information (GIS); designing a graphic identity (iconography) and implementing it as a complementary layer to the already existing territorial visualization tool on the web, GoogleMaps. This way, it is easier for any citizen to discover and enjoy this territory, both physically and digitally, assisted by the mobile application, which is widely used.
For the signaling project (S02), the design of the different types of signposts is combined with digital tools, prototyping and manufacturing along with local companies. The cane worker 3SH (3 Servicios Huertanos) who recovers the traditional cane craftwork and the sign maker Smart Signs who incorporates digital manufacturing systems for the information panels are essential for its materialization.
For the Educational Workshop (S04) the research work on the Irrigation Network is combined: its history, geography, place names and biodiversity, with the development of a didactics based on public participation that implies the design of a mobile classroom that helps children learning with its visual and experiential support. To do this, through NCC digital technology and manufacturing, the artifacts "Canal Mapping" and "Canal printer" are generated. In addition to that, interaction with digital systems is essential during the activity, using GIS-based cartography, such as an irrigation network map, accessible through QR codes and displayed on GoogleMaps. on smartphones, allowing participants to interact in the activity and accurately geolocate the stretch of canal to be physically represented in the workshop.
There are several elements from this strategy that can be replicated in other similar initiatives, although the specific result of each Project will end up being something unique depending on characteristics of the place and community it is displayed. One of those are the following:
-The general approach: in essence, this Project consists of analysing the characteristics and values of the local territory, its history, culture and traditions, and the way in which people have related to that natural environment, so that this information can be available to its inhabitants, both in the physical and digital spheres, and a series of actions and activities can be developed to disseminate this information.
-Methodology: The way in which the information has been obtained and processed to provide people an easy and free access to it, both physically and digitally.
-Technology: open digital tools have been used to virtualize the routes through the natural environment, such as the information layers of GoogleMaps, so that the information is freely accessible to any user.
The main global challenge that we address in this project is Sustainable Development in its broadest meaning. We consume our resources globally in an unsustainable way because we no loger live in balance with our ecosystem. To reverse this, we urgently need to transform our City and Territorial Planning models from a deep respect for the territory we inhabit. Working on Territorial Identity is thus revealed as the most essential base of Sustainable Development.
Cities urban planning and their management have proven to be a very slow process and we need to change the way we relate to our environment urgently. From this reflection the concept of Territory and Landscape Activation was born.
We need to imagine a future, in the short term, in which our cities growth and our territory impact is in balance with our natural environment and the traces of our cultural identity. In this way, we address the current problem of uncontrolled global growth and development through the acquisition of local communities’ territorial awareness that allows a local control of resource consumption and contributes to the development of a sustainable global awareness.
In the design of the signage for the routes (S02) we have been driven by a didactic spirit that aims to make the visitor aware of the heritage wealth present in this landscape and the importance of preserving this ecosystem as a habitat for native biodiversity.
In the educational workshops (S04) and the information stand (S05), our aim is to carry out transversal and intergenerational pedagogical work that helps to reverse the results of an urbanization process that has led the population of this area to turn their backs on its cultural, natural and landscape heritage.
We are deeply convinced that carrying out this type of initiative at the local level contributes to the future growth of diverse, equitable and respectful communities with their environment and to establish synergies with other communities at a global level
