De Cárdenas on Seville’s new Port Urban District: “It will be a liveable, inclusive and connected place”
EDDEA partner José María de Cárdenas took part as an expert in the summer course ‘Ciudades Portuarias. El urbanismo integrador’ (Port Cities: Integrative Urbanism), organised by the International University of Andalusia (UNIA) at its La Rábida campus (Huelva), where he set out the details of Seville’s future Port Urban District (Distrito Urbano Portuario, DUP), a project that will turn this part of the city into a “liveable, inclusive and connected place”.
Promoted by the Seville School of Architecture (ETSA) and the RETE association, the course was held on 10 and 11 July for university students and professionals. Drawing on a range of specialists, it set out to analyse how ports and cities currently coexist from a multidisciplinary and innovative perspective.
In his talk, De Cárdenas recalled that the Andalusian capital “once had a close relationship with the Guadalquivir, and in this project we have reflected on how to work with the river, first through a developable piece of land that would link the city with the natural river”. With this scheme on the Muelle de Tablada, “Seville must once again become the most flourishing place of exchange of the 21st century”, he said.
The EDDEA architect, who heads the DUP Technical Office, explained that the design of the new urban space drew on an exhaustive analysis of disused resources and land and of the existing industrial heritage. “We have studied how Seville could make the most of this port city, and to that end we have worked on creating rings and green spaces,” José María de Cárdenas said.
After a stage of analysis, drafting of the masterplan and processing of the planning documents, the DUP is now implementing the first phase of development. Its objectives include converting the Muelle de Tablada for cruise traffic, creating spaces for new economic and business opportunities and enhancing the architectural and industrial heritage.
A dynamic port city
De Cárdenas added that “the port area has to be activated and energised, not passively (waiting for the city to take it over), but by drawing it closer so that it floods the city with its special qualities, creating a kind of Blue District”. “Seville has all the ingredients and players to carry this idea through. It is time to become a dynamic port city once again,” he concluded.
The DUP masterplan drawn up by EDDEA proposes transforming 40 hectares of the bank next to the Avenida de Las Razas into an urban port district with 308,219 square metres of built space for new economic activities and a further 184,782 of open space and green areas. It also proposes the planning of 17 hectares on the eastern side of the Avenida de Las Razas for residential and commercial use.
