In Barcelona, the forest is urban: 17,000 hectares of woodland in the area
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71 percent of the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which includes the city and 36 municipalities in a very extensive area with mountains and coasts, is characterized by areas considered to be of great environmental value, as they consist of no less than 17,000 hectares of woods and forests and 52 percent are open spaces. It is by virtue of this richness that the capital of Catalonia obtained the title of European Forest City 2022 last May. The winning city has the main task of promoting awareness of the role of European forests, of hosting the annual conference of the Efi , the European Forestry Institute, and to organize throughout the year a series of events and in-depth activities for researchers, professionals and the public on the themes of “biocities” and on new models of planning and management of urban spaces .
The interview
Stefano Boeri: “The rift between cities and Nature must be mended”
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Barcelona’s journey as a European forestry city and “biocity” began with its modernization as early as 1992, when it hosted the Olympics, but received a decisive boost in 2015 with the election as mayor of Ada Colau. Together with the Italian Frances Bria, chosen as Councilor for Technologies and Digital Innovation, Colau based her actions on the idea of ”rethinking the concept of smart city from below, in the sense of focusing technology on what can serve people”. And people need a better quality of life, so, together with technologies such as the one that equips public car parks with sensors under the asphalt, to see through an app where there is a free space, Barcelona has invested in an environment that uses nature-based solutions to promote biodiversity.
It is the basic concept of “biocity”: applying the principles of the circular bioeconomy with the aim of becoming a zero-emission city by 2050, according to the EU strategy. The scope of the circular bioeconomy includes the use of materials from forests (in particular, wood for construction, or as raw material for the industrial sector), marine products, the development of biomaterials using nanotechnologies, the development of a new urban “metabolism” that uses renewable energies, agriculture, the development of urban biodiversity (and other environmental services linked to forests and green spaces). All these initiatives have a direct impact on people’s well-being, both in terms of air quality, global health and citizen empowerment.
“As Amb, Metropolitan Area of Barcelona we have a series of competences in this regard, established by the law 31/2010 of the Parliament of Catalonia- he says Antonio Farrero Comptegeneral coordinator of the technical management office of the Amb – which include the implementation of green structures, their protection and conservation, as well as the integral management of the land, the management and maintenance of the metropolitan parks area, the socio- environmental protection of the Llobregat and Besòs river basins and, as the Barcelona metropolitan area is part of the Collserola Natural Park consortium, we are carrying out a new urban and environmental project which aims to enhance the nature protection of the protected area “.
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Furthermore, as a Forestry City, Barcelona relies on its more than 30,000 trees, which become real green connectors between natural spaces and the urban fabric. “Most of our forest mass is found in the coastal and pre-coastal mountain ranges: Collserola, Serra de Marina, the Baix mountains, the Garraf massif and Ordal – explains Farrero Compte – the Amb is embarking on a path of promotion of forest policies within its competence, especially for forest management as a strategy to improve the metropolitan green infrastructure and promote the active conservation of natural spaces.Ours is a comprehensive and transversal, metropolitan and multidisciplinary strategy, covering all life stages of trees: from spatial planning, to the integral management of parks and beaches, through the design of public space taking into account natural resources, or the construction of biomass boilers using local wood”.
Farrero Compte lists the practical actions in which the Amb is engaging: “In the meantime, we invest in active management of the territory, which promotes the agroforestry mosaic to reduce the risk of forest fires and improve the health of peri-urban forests. However, we want to exploit forests in throughout their life cycle, so wood, like other natural resources, is valorised for new uses such as the construction of sustainable and healthier buildings, for carbon storage, given that every cubic meter of wood used avoids emissions in the atmosphere of about one ton of CO2.
The management of the agroforestry mosaic also implies the promotion of the green and circular economy, with the presence of local crops and agriculture, companies specialized in the wood transformation process and an innovative business ecosystem, which offers new solutions to re-evaluate the wood. In fact, the industrialization of wood must be promoted as an economic pillar in the metropolitan area and its architecture and construction: the use of wood in fact reduces CO emissions2 by more than 30 percent compared to concrete construction”.
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It is an ambitious plan that has costs: “3.2 million people live in the metropolitan area of Barcelona – concludes Farrero Compte – for the management of peri-urban parks and urban woods, a total of 300 hectares, we spend 10 million euros l he natural parks of Collserola, Serralada de Marina and Garraf, which have an area of about 15,000 hectares, cost us 7 million a year, while the maintenance of other agricultural areas and river areas costs 1 million a year. In all there are 18 million and the cost for the inhabitants is calculated at 5.6 Euros But the return on these investments in terms of ecosystem services goes well beyond the numerical calculation, because air quality, savings and management of water resources, socio-cultural services are the basis for a better quality of life”.
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