After the floods in Spain, the difficult equation of reconstruction

“Build differently”: a month after the floods which devastated the south-east of Spain, the priority of the authorities is to rebuild as quickly as possible, but specialists invite a rethinking of developments, by integrating more nature and moving neighborhoods at risk.

“The degree of destruction and ruin has been historic” in the Valencia region, where nearly 80 towns were affected by the torrential rains of October 29points out the Higher Council of the Order of Architects (CSCAE) of Spain.

The meteorological episode left behind cities disfigured, infrastructure out of order and cost the lives of at least 230 people, mainly in the Valencia region (222 dead), making it the worst natural disaster in the country since the floods which killed 300 people in Andalusia in 1973.

Return to “the compact city”

For the president of the Order of Architects Marta Vall-Llossera, the reconstruction must “be carried out with empathy, technical rigor and a lot of responsibility”. “With global warming making weather phenomena more and more intense and more frequent, architecture will have an important role,” she continues. “We will therefore have to build differently,” insists the architect, advocating a return to “the traditional, compact Mediterranean city”.

In the Valencia metropolitan area, the urban expansion of the 1960s increased the artificialization of landincreasing its vulnerability to flooding, because the concreting prevents the absorption of water. In Paiporta, considered the epicenter of the disaster, the main roads, for example, were transformed on October 29 into torrents of mud, sweeping away everything in their path.

“We must try to renaturalize cities, reduce car use, make the pavers less hard, more permeablewith better performance in the face of intense heat and torrential rain,” said Ms. Vall-Llossera in an interview with AFP.

In the case of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, a territorial action plan on flood risk prevention already exists: approved in 2003, it however has “no retroactive effects” and is not binding, explains María Jesús Romero Aloy, expert in urban planning law and teacher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Buildings to be removed

According to the data from this plan, the Valencia region represents 5% of the national territory at risk of flooding but has borne 20% of episodes of heavy rain over the last ten years. The highest flood risk is concentrated on 12% of the regional territory, or 270,000 hectares, and concerns 600,000 inhabitants.

In this area, the regional authority recommends that owners have “an internal staircase with access to the roof and 1.30 meter watertight doors and windows.” But for María Jesús Romero Aloy, more must be done, “rethink the territorial model and consider removing buildings or installations that present a high risk”.

Today, an owner has the right to rebuild on his flooded plot, even if it is located in a high risk zone. The only recourse to prevent it is “forced expropriation”, as was the case in 2019 in Onteniente, a municipality located about 85 km south of Valencia, of which “a neighborhood was eliminated” and transformed into a floodable park , recalls the lawyer. But mayors are “reluctant to expropriate” because it is “a complicated political decision” to which is added “the shortage of housing”, she underlines.

“Natural barriers”

However, a month after the tragic floods of October 29, “there is an awareness among decision-makers”, analyzes Federico Jesús Bonet Zapater, territorial advisor in Valencia in civil engineering, canals and ports.

“The projects to build dams or divert canals which have been on the table for some time will finally be studied,” rejoices the engineer, who campaigns for “better coordination of regulations between central and regional authorities ».

The abandonment, envisaged by local elected officials, of “industrial expansion and unbridled urban growth is a fable”, however predicts Rafael Delgado Artes, specialist in territorial planning and risk prevention. Failing this, this forestry professor pleads for “natural barriers” to minimize damage, such as reforestation to “cushion the flow”intermediate overflow spaces for rivers or even “artificial beds to divert rivers from city centers”.

In the city of Valencia, spared from the latest floods, the river which crosses the city had been diverted after destructive bad weather in 1957. And in place of the Turia, dried up in the city center, there is today a park urban area of ​​110 hectares.