AN IRRIGATED LANDSCAPE AT RISK: THE PERI-URBAN HUERTA OF THE EBRO DOWNSTREAM FROM ZARAGOZA

Abstract

his article, framed within a broader research project on the peri-urban area that stretches along the Ebro downstream from Zaragoza, analyses some of the transformations undergone in recent decades by the city’s huerta. Since the Islamic period, its privileged location at the confluence of the Ebro, Huerva and Gállego rivers favoured its economic and social vitality. This condition has shaped a characteristic peri-urban landscape with rural settlements, road systems and ‘torres’. However, this valuable eco-cultural heritage is currently under threat from fragmentation and decline — direct consequences of uncontrolled urban expansion and the depreciation of agricultural and animal husbandry. This research approaches the study of the aforementioned area from a twofold perspective. First, by highlighting the cultural heritage value of this irrigated landscape through the recovery of abundant documentation (travellers’ accounts, drawings, photographs) that confirms its historical significance. Second, through a comparative cartographic analysis, by identifying some of the changes experienced in the study area that reveal both the risks of degradation and the potential of the peri-urban huerta as a socio-economic and environmental resource. Finally, an interactive map is presented as an operative contribution.