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24th ISUF International Conference 27th-29th September 2017 VALENCIA

Altea Urban Project: An academic approach to the
transformation of a coastal Spanish touristic city based on the
improvement of the public space

Vicente Iborra Pallarés¹, Francisco Zaragoza Saura²
¹Building Sciences and Urbanism Department. University of Alicante. Alicante. Spain
²Concejalía de Urbanismo, Ayuntamiento de Altea. Altea. Spain
E-mail: vicente.iborra@ua.es, zaragozasaura@gmail.com

Abstract. The town of Altea (Alicante, Spain) has an important urban center
that has historically been characterized by two contrasting situations: on one
hand, the settlements located on the seaside elevations (Bellaguarda and the
Renaissance Bastion) linked to the agricultural uses of the fertile valleys of
the rivers Algar and els Arcs, and on the other hand the coastal developments,
originally fishery, but nowadays with touristic uses on the maritime front. All
these elements configure an urban nucleus that, due to its urban, architectural
and landscape qualities, gives rise to one of the main tourist attractions of the
region. However, the area described nowadays presents an important problem
related to the use and habitability of public space, which is invaded by the
presence of the private vehicle, even along the seaside, due to its touristic
relevance. This article presents the results of an academic experience developed
to study different possibilities of urban transformations for the municipality of
Altea, taking as a project site the urban vacuum still conserved between the two
situations previously described: the historical areas on the coastal elevations
(Dalt) and new urban developments parallel to the seaside (Baix). This academic
activity, performed by nearly 50 students from the University of Alicante, was
developed in the context of the design course Urbanism 5 during the academic
year 2015-16, thanks to the agreement signed between the Municipality of Altea
and the University of Alicante.

Keywords: Public space, historical urban evolution, tourism
phenomena, urbanistic project, educational experience

Introduction

Defining a new design course is something quite
similar to an everyday action. In both cases we
apply to a specific case a set of motivations and
previously acquired criteria to take the precise
decisions that will lead us to some expected
results. Thus our experience is a powerful tool,
not only to perceive reality, but also to alter it
by projecting on it. Urbanism 5 is one of the
last courses of the educational itinerary of
urbanism in the degree of Architecture at the
University of Alicante.

After diverse courses that approach the
formation of the student around certain subjects

(such as the rudiments of the discipline, the
ecological urbanism, knowledge on residential
developments or tools for landscape analysis),
students reach a level in which they are
expected to be able to develop a projective
activity on the existing reality with a certain
autonomy. It is therefore a question of applying
the experience gained previously to a specific
site in order to establish a series of objectives
to be achieved. The work performed by the
lecturers responsible of this design studio is
to show them a panorama of contemporary
urbanism capable of helping them to define
successful planning strategies to achieve those
targets proposed by themselves. This panorama
is neither complete nor closed, but tries to

http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5990

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

City and territory in the Globalization Age Conference proceedings873 24th ISUF International Conference 27th-29th September 2017 VALENCIA

show the culture of the urbanistic project that
they intend to develop (understood as a set of
appropriate contemporary references). Joan
Busquets and Felipe Correa identified X lines
(2006) of the contemporary urban project,
ten fields of work and ten ways to understand
the projective activity of the discipline. The
panorama to which we referred above is framed
within these X lines, completing the theoretical
context of the course.

The study case where to apply it during the
academic course 2015-16 at the University
of Alicante was the Filharmònica square, an
urban vacuum present in the center of Altea -a
coastal village in the Southeast of Spain- which
configures a key public space to improve the
urban quality of the historical quarter, but
nowadays used as a huge parking lot. The city
of Altea, like many other similar villages of the
Spanish Levant, shows what can be called as
a double location: on one hand the historical
nucleus formed around the existing seaside
elevations (Bellaguarda and the Renaissance
Bastion). On the other the urban settlements
linked to the marine activity: the original fishers
quarter (Raval de Sant Pere) and the later linear
developments along the national road N-332,
related to the touristic activity. This brief
description shows us two different parts of
Altea -the city on the hills (Altea de Dalt) and
the city linked to the seaside (Altea de Baix)-
which are present in the collective imaginary of
its inhabitants. And between one and the other a
historical urban void (Figure 1) that nowadays
is still present in the urban network due to the
presence of the Filharmònica square (a plot
obtained after the demolition of the municipal
cinema) located in a strategically central area.
The last condition, but the one which gives
the location almost a territorial dimension,
is the presence of the narrow-gauge railway
line between Alicante and Denia crossing the
village of Altea precisely through this urban
vacuum, and through the Filharmònica Square.
Due to the improvement actions carried out
in the area by the public entity responsible of
this railway line, a public debate started about
what could happen in this key urban area in the
near future, and this was the context in which
a teaching agreement was signed in between
the Municipality of Altea and the University of
Alicante.

Figure 1. Map of Altea, F. Coello y P. Madoz,

1859 modified by the authors

As we have already mentioned,

the
Filharmònica Square (project site) despite of
being an adequate working environment in
itself, allowed the students to establish a whole
series of urban and territorial relations that
implied the whole urban nucleus of Altea. Thus
the students, organized in working groups, had
to extended and delimitate a bigger area where
to develop their projective action, adjacent to
the Square (strategic site). It was a question of
answering the above mentioned relations, but
also of showing how a project like that could
have repercussion on the whole city. This two
concepts –project site and strategic site- will
be later described in detail in the Methodology
section. As a result of the extended delimited
areas (strategic sites) proposed by the students
three different attitudes were identified that
allowed to organize and classify the projects.

Firstly can be found those projects that
operate on what was called the relations
between the upper and the lower part of the
city (de Dalt a Baix), that is to say on the
improvement of the urban relations in between
those different urban settlements thinking
that the Filharmònica Square could be a key
element in the route that lead from the church
(previously the main tower of the Renaissance
Bastion) located in the upper part of the city, to
the maritime edge.

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

874 Secondly, those projects that recognize
the value of the urban vacuum that remains
between the upper and the lower part of the
city. The starting point of these projects was
that this empty space, present in the public
image (Lynch, 1960) of the city of Altea for
centuries, must remain as a meeting place for
citizens. A place like this could endow the town
with a lack that many of our Mediterranean
cities suffer: a large public space, capable of
organizing the relationships between facilities
and green spaces on the basis of cycling
or pedestrian routes. These student works,
which operate following linear developments
parallel to the coast, were grouped under the
denomination Baix.

Lastly ni Dalt ni Baix, that is to say, those
projects which although they operate mainly
in the existing environment between the
Filharmònica Square and the Renaissance
Bastion, focus their interest in those urban
voids -of diverse entity- that have remained
vacant into the urban network over time,
either because of its complicated orography or
because of issues related to soil management.
Activating this network of vacancies based
on a specific programs was the target of these
exercises.

Once established the fields of interest and
the scope of work that extended the strict
project site (Filharmònica Square) began a
working process that lasted over four months.
The result were 15 proposals in which can be
identified actions on urban space, minimalist
projects based on strategic actions, large-
scale landscape proposals that cover the entire
urban center or its seafront, urban projects
that propose to complete the plot of the city in
the surroundings of the Filharmònica Square,
actions of revitalization of the historical center
or great artifacts (Busquets and Correa, 2006)
that endow the locality with the necessary
facilities, not only for the occasional tourists,
but for the citizens; In short, a panorama of
contemporary urbanism for the city of Altea.

Methodology

The academic course was developed by
working in groups of 3 to 4 students in a

theoretical-practical format developing two
parallel activities: on one hand the study of
contemporary theories and urban developments,
and on the other the development of a design
project in a workshop format. Thus the final
result of the course in 2015-16 was a teaching
material capable of showing a vision of the
contemporary practice of urbanism and at the
same time a projective interpretation of this
vision coming from the degree of Architecture
at the University of Alicante for the specific
case of Altea. In this paper, although it is fully
addressed to show the results obtained in the
workshop section, in order to fully describe the
teaching method used, the theoretical section
will be briefly described below.

As already mentioned, the objective of this
theoretical activity was to build a proper frame
of reference for the course. As a result of this, it
was intended to create a teaching material that
could show a selection of urban developments
showing alternative ways of proceeding in the
contemporary project in relation to the built (or
not) environment in which they are located.
This section comprised two parallel activities:
firstly the reading, elaboration of an essay and
later critical session in the classroom about a
series of lectures selected by the faculty and
secondly the construction of a panorama of
contemporary urbanism, based on the critical
study of a whole series of urban projects on
the premises described by J. Busquets and
F. Correa (2006) which are related to the
projective actions to be developed in Altea.

As for the workshop, the projective action
started from the first moment after a field trip to
the locality, with the Exercise 0, in which each
student had to propose his own map of Altea.
It is usually accepted that maps are objective
and univocal representations of reality, but it is
precisely in the system of graphic conventions
and in the selection of those aspects of reality
that pretend to be represented where we find
the subjectivity of the author. This is precisely
the objective sought by this first “warm up”
exercise carried out quickly (1 week): to show
publicly those self-interests present in the
students, from the conviction that it is precisely
from the intersection between the physical,
social and cultural reality of a community

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

City and territory in the Globalization Age Conference proceedings875 24th ISUF International Conference 27th-29th September 2017 VALENCIA

and the cloud of interests of the author from
where the future projective actions could be
developed.

During the length of the workshop, different
sub-deliveries were planned in which the
students had to answer a series of questions in
parallel to the development of their project:
·Define a strategic site. Therefore, each working
group had to answer two main questions:
Where? Showing an accurate delimitation of the
proposed strategic site and Why? Explaining
the reasons for establishing this delimitation.
It is here where previous individual reflections
developed in Exercise 0 find their raison
d’etre. This dual-purpose urban reflection
finds a clear reference in the methodology
developed by the organization of the Europan
competition during the last decades which can
be consulted, for example, in the catalog of the
last edition (Rebois, 2014). Each of the cities
interested in participating in the calls for this
international architecture contest, must submit
to the scientific committee of Europan two
related urban areas, with different scales (one
including a larger one) on which that locality
requests the elaboration of different urban
reflections by the architects participating in the
competitions. This dual approach allows the
different proposals presented not to be a mere
architectural or urbanistic resolution of a small
scale, which could be approached in context
international competition,
different
including a more far-reaching urban reflection.
Therefore, the lecturers in charge of this design
course proposed to the students to assume a
role similar to that of the municipal authorities
proposing the double delimitation already
commented.

to an

Make a diagnosis in which problems and
opportunities could be identified both in the
project and strategic sites and its environment:
What is happening currently?

Define the objectives to be achieved by the
proposal and therefore a proposal program for
the selected sites: What could happen in the
future?

Finally, the students had to develop the
necessary urban and architectural strategies to
achieve the previously defined objetives: How?
It is precisely here where the panorama of
contemporary urbanism developed in parallel
theoretical work took on a crucial importance.

Measurement and analysis

Now some of the urban strategies developed by
the students will be briefly described grouping
them on the basis of the three categories of
strategic sites above commented.

Starting with those student works addressing
the topic titled de Dalt a Baix now will be
described two different approaches which
build a kind of spatial continuity. On one side
can be found the work performed by J. Martín,
J.A. Ortega and R. Palencia (Figure 2) which
develops an improvement on the existing urban
conditions, specially focusing on the universal
accessibility, in the way from the square located
in the top of the Renaissance Bastion and the
project site, selecting and transforming a series
of existing streets that follow the level curves
and nowadays presenting traffic transit on
them. These new shared space route ends at the
Filharmònica Square proposing a new urban
project learning from the urban morphology
present in the historical quarter. On the other
side can be found the project performed by L.
Birker, S. Ortega and C. Ortiz (Figure 3) which
developes a connection between the project
site and the sea front proposing to eliminate the
traffic transit from the seaside and transforming
an existing surface parking lot located in front
of the seaside promenade which breaks the
continuity of coastal uses in the Altea Bay. As
a part of this transformation landscape project
the students propose the creation of a new
universal accessible beach after detecting the
opportunity that this kind of touristic facility
could be for the whole region.

To conclude among the works developed
in the category entitled ni Dalt ni Baix two
proposals should be commented here: the
projects performed by H. Ibáñez, C. Sala and
J. M. Santo on the one side (Figure 5), and by
A. M. Conejero, C. Ruíz and N. Sanjuan on the
other (Figure 6), as both of them address the
historical relation existing in between several
artists during the XX century and the city of
Altea, a relation that finally was consolidated
with the foundation of the Fine Arts Faculty.

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

876 Figure 2. Model of the connection between the Renaissance Bastion and the project site. J.

Martín, J.A. Ortega and R. Palencia

Figure 3. Illustration of the new seafront promenade and beach by L. Birker, S. Ortega and

C. Ortiz

Figure 4. Plan of the new green axis for
Altea proposed by M. Álvarez, A.B.
García and I. Sotos

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

City and territory in the Globalization Age Conference proceedings877 24th ISUF International Conference 27th-29th September 2017 VALENCIA

Figure 5. Plan of the new housing and working facilities proposed in relation with the public

space of Altea by H. Ibáñez, C. Sala and J. M. Santo

Figure 6. Axonometric view of the city center of Altea activated by the residence proposed

by A. M. Conejero, C. Ruíz and N. Sanjuan

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

878 These two projects propose the improvement
of this relations after detecting both some
debilities and opportunities. The first one
proposes to create a network of small student
apartments spotted among the different urban
voids detected inside the urban network of
the historical city, including the Filharmònica
Square, in which actions on the public space
are combined with housing, co-housing,
working and co-working spaces, trying to
visualize the plastic work performed by the
Fine Arts students. The second one proposes
the creation of an artist residence system taking
these vacant spaces as the new locations for the
artistic creation and for the public participation.

Conclusion

the development of

the above
During
mentioned design course at the University of
Alicante two different levels of conclusions
had been observed: the first one related to the
physical urban reality observed in the study
case selected, and the second one about the
implemented educative tools developed during
the course.

Firstly must be said that the initial intuitions
about the key urban role that the Filharmònica
Square should play in the near future of Altea
have been confirmed after the working period.
It could become the bigger public space –
despite of the beach- of the whole village, and
what is even more important, with a central
location inside the historical quarter, areas that
typically present a clear lack of these kind of
spaces in the Mediterranean compact cities. In
addition to this the improvement of the urban
qualities were expanded to different parts of
the city acquiring a possible repercussion for
the whole city that should be further studied by
the Municipality on the implementation of new
urban initiatives in a multiple sense: improving
the qualities of the public space, creating a
new network of facilities, linking different
parts of the urban center, developing a proper
framework where to implement new social
and cultural actions, or even when creating a
regenerated seaside promenade.
the

educative methodology
proposed and implemented was successful in

Secondly

obtaining two different targets: on the one hand
creating a proper educative cultural framework
where to develop the objectives fixed by the
students after the theoretical approach, and on
the other hand as an effective communication
tool in between academicians, politicians and
citizens. About the first target must be said
that the ten lines defined by J. Busquets and
F. Correa (2006) defined clearly the game field
where the course should be developed and a
range of possible references to help the students
in the materialization of their work. Also, as has
been mentioned above, the double approach to
the location represented by the project site and
the strategic site topics developed by Europan
during the last decades has allowed the lecturers
responsible of the design course to explain the
students how an urbanistic project, that in a first
sight could be seen as a local punctual action,
could (and sometimes must) have a wider
repercussion in the urban environment where
it is implemented. About the second mentioned
target the implementation of the strategic site
concept that allowed to classify the projects
(de Dalt a Baix, Baix and ni Dalt ni Baix)
resulted in an effective communication tool to
organize the developed work when presenting
it to third agents not related with the academic
world, like politicians and citizens from Altea,
as it could be easily read by the people living
in the village. Finally these three different
areas of interest defined were the base for the
organization of the communication actions
developed for the public presentation of the
student work results: a web page, an exhibition
and a publication.

References

Arbour & Associés (2001) Faubourg Québec,
paramètres de développement urbain
(Société de développement de Montréal,
Montréal).

Busquets, J. and Correa, F. (2006) Cities X
lines: a new lens for the Urbanistic Project
(Harvard University Graduate School of
Design, Cambridge).

Europan Europe (2016) Project and processes
(http://www.europan-europe.eu/en/project-
January-May
and-processes/)
2016.

accessed

2017, Universitat Politècnica de València

City and territory in the Globalization Age Conference proceedings879 24th ISUF International Conference 27th-29th September 2017 VALENCIA

Fernández Per, A. and Mozas, J. (2010) Strategy

public (a+t ediciones, Vitoria-Gasteiz).

Gehl, J. (2006) La humanización del espacio
urbano: la vida social entre los edificios
(Reverté, Barcelona).

Koolhaas, R. (1995) S, M, L, XL (The

Monacelli Press, New York).

Lynch, K. (1960) The Image of the City (The
Institute of Technology

Massachusetts
Press, Cambridge).

Rebois, D. (ed.) (2014) Europan 12 results.
The adaptable city /1 (Europan Europe,
Paris).

.

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