Page 193 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

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

Fig 16. Aerial view of the rail land area and the Expo site in progress, 2006. Source: ZAV.
12. The Expo project

During the election campaign of May 1999, the Socialist Party brought to light the celebration in
the city of an International Exhibition in the north bank of the river Ebro for the year 2008. The
idea came from the architect Carlos Miret who joined in the campaign. The location was in the
northwestern bank, locating the pavilions nest to river. The main reference was the exhibition
in Lisbon 1998, leveraging the riverfront location to regenerate the whole area.

The Socialist Party lost the elections but, according to Miret (2007) to expand the desire of the
Expo, he created the Cultural Association Zaragoza Expo 2008. The project had a remarkable
acceptance in the city and soon began to gain political supports. The mayor of the City, Rudi,
was named President of the National Parliament in March 2000. The new conservative Mayor,
José Atarés, was not very convinced about the Expo project but neither opposed.

The continuous development of the project and the increasing public support achieved a
political consensus to gain the bid. The project was sent to Madrid to gain support of the
National Government. The candidacy was hardly developed and in December 2004, Zaragoza
won the celebration of the International Expo against Trieste and Thessaloniki. Then started an
accelerated process to convert the Ranillas meander and to use this event for a broader scope.

Fig 17. The Expo site, Water Park and Ebro riverfronts in 2008. Source: ZAV.

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 191