Urban green structure in El Ensanche of Valencia city

The Valencian urban green structure, constitutes the main field of the present paper. Its form, size and distribution over the urban grid, could be easily comparable to other European cities, that grown highly on the XIX and XX Century behind a medieval wall. In a first stage, in 1884 with the “Primer Ensanche” by Calvo, Ferreres and Arnau, Valencia gets through a process of fine urban sewing, matching both urban structures, medieval one with the new square blocks, based on the Paris of the Haussmann, example that really helped to integrate such a different urban behavior. Thus, small green spaces appear rarely around those new neighborhoods and districts, usually on the lost urban spaces where the building blocks were more difficult to be built. When the second stage of the Valencian urban sprawl comes through, with the “El Segundo Ensanche de Valencia” (1924, Francisco Mora) the main structure was the square blocks with inner patios with its typical cross chamfer. As a result, Valencia sprawl achieves their principal urban troubles, such as overcrowding, sanitation and restructuring. Moreover, it made those goals using the most efficient and sustainable urban model because of its compactness. However, urban changes forgive one of the most demanded spaces by its citizens nowadays, the green structure, car and its roadway where first over the green spaces. This paper analyzes how green spaces are inside the square blocks greed in Valencia “El Ensanche”, and tries to include some alternatives to improve its lack of green infrastructure.Keywords Valencia, El Ensanche, Green structure, urban compactness