Almeria Inspires Malaga With Its Sustainable River Revival

Almeria’s pioneering Rio Andarax restoration has caught nan oculus of Malaga City Council, inspiring its eager plans to toggle shape nan Guadalmedina into a greenish municipality corridor pinch bridge-plazas, parks and tree-lined boulevards.

From nan Andarax to nan Guadalmedina

Malaga’s flagship stream task – 5 plazas-puente (bridge-plazas), a 76,000-square-metre greenish corridor, and buried postulation on nan riverbanks – has taken nonstop cues from Almeria’s ongoing Rio Andarax betterment programme.

Almeria’s translator of 17.5 kilometres of stream and complete 100 hectares of onshore has been hailed arsenic a exemplary of ecological design. Led by Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition, nan useful focused connected removing invasive species, restoring stream morphology and hydrology, and planting autochthonal vegetation to stabilise nan banks and heighten biodiversity.

Malaga officials, aft reviewing those results, said they intend to replicate nan aforesaid equilibrium betwixt hydraulic information and ecological integration, transforming nan Guadalmedina from a flood-prone transmission into a civic parkland that reconnects nan city.

A stream reborn successful Almeria

The Rio Andarax restoration began successful precocious 2024 and is now complete 70 per cent complete, pinch €2.58 cardinal invested truthful far. The task stretches from nan Sierra Alhamilla foothills to nan Mediterranean delta, integrating wetland regeneration, improved h2o flow, and residence protection.

Parallel useful are besides nether measurement astatine nan Delta del Andarax, wherever nan ministry is creating a continuous greenway linking nan Paseo Maritimo to nan Senda Litoral del Bobar, and astatine nan Rio Adra, wherever canebrakes person been cleared to trim flood consequence and protect cultivation zones.

Together, these projects person turned Almeria into a reference constituent for sustainable waterway guidance successful confederate Spain.

Next steps for Malaga’s stream transformation

Malaga’s €300 cardinal scheme is being developed by engineering patient Esteyco, pinch building expected to statesman successful 2027.

Key elements include:

• Five bridge-plazas connecting some riverbanks.
• 76,000 quadrate metres of greenish nationalist abstraction pinch shaded seating and gardens.
• Traffic buried beneath 2 caller boulevards up to 20 metres wide.
• Flood information will beryllium maintained done hydraulic controls and unfastened travel zones.

Officials opportunity nan metropolis hopes to pull European costs to support nan works, which could beryllium completed by 2030.

Almeria – a metropolis that inspires pinch its sustainability

For Almeria, nan attraction from Malaga confirms nan city’s increasing estimation arsenic a sustainability benchmark. The Andarax task has proven that ecological betterment tin coexist pinch municipality life, offering shade, information and leisure while protecting biodiversity.

As Andalucian cities look rising temperatures and h2o scarcity, these initiatives could go blueprints for climate-resilient urbanism crossed confederate Spain.

Moving forward

Almeria’s restoration useful will proceed into 2026, pinch monitoring of riverbank vegetation and coastal connections astatine nan Andarax delta. The location authorities besides plans acquisition and organization programmes to beforehand section stewardship of nan recovered areas.