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Processes, urban impact and evaluation of the high-speed rail in the city of Zaragoza, Spain.

They reflected the influence of theories which considered the “urban project” as the ideal way
to solve the problems of the city planning, as told by Sainz Gutiérrez (2006). These theories
emerged in Italy since the 1950s and 1960s (Rogers 1953, Aymonino, Rossi 1966) and were
developed in France since the 1970s and 1980s (Huet, 1974, Panerai and Mangin, 1999).

The plans of the 1980s were the first ones in the era of democracy and they were very ambitious.
According to Leira (1993), the City Councils turned their efforts and illusion in the General Town
Planning thinking that the document was going to solve all the city problems. These plans posed
the general strategy of the city evolution and the vision of the future, growth developing a high
grade of detail in any intervention, including the urban design of the inner-city areas.

The Zaragoza planning was not as ambitious as others in the aspects of urban and architectural
definition, but coincided with the concerns about the degradation of old town, the needing of
social housing and a balanced disposal of public facilities. As Manuel Ramos, author of the plan,
noted in 1993, the plan had not in account the relationship of the city in the territory, it was
more restrictive than proactive, and it was more focused in the restoration and conservation
than in the city future. But, in contrast of this concern about the architectural aspects of urban
form, the plan opted for just matching different areas to different regulations, in a clear zoning
strategy, less flexible and defined than expected.

Fig 7. Zaragoza Master Plan of 1986. Urban planning qualification of the city center and the rail infrastructures.
Source: Own elaboration from the data provided by Zaragoza City Planning Department.

5. The review of the General Plan from 1992 to 1996

In October 1992, different politic parties thought that the socioeconomic, cultural and
strategic conditions of the city and society were changing and the current Master Plan was
not able to solve this situation. So, they agreed to start the review of the General Plan.
Although the official reason for a new plan was to define and generate the development of
the city future, the reality was that the city was suffering an urban expansion and it was
necessary to classify more land for urbanizing. Also, it was necessary to find ways to achieve
a greater and better economic growth.
In November 1992 the City Council held an urban seminar to talk about the possibilities and
needs of the new plan. Leira (1993), author of the Master Plan of Madrid in 1985, told that
the new plan should be more strategic and more selective. It should prioritize the aims for
the future and this capacity should be transformed into a few objectives, but very clear

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 183