Uccrn Education Last month, on April 12th, UCCRN team co-hosted with the City of Cornellà de Llobregat and local NGOs a community workshop in the neighborhood of Sant Ildefons, within the Climate Itineraries project, funded under the Climate KIC Sustainable Mobility Challenge Programme. Residents have contributed to implement a portion of an ambitious masterplan aimed at enhancing the existing green and blue infrastructure in the city to provide a cooler walkable and cyclable urban environment. UDCW simulation tools helped to identify the hotspots of heat stress and the most suitable urban paths, by tailoring specific NBS in relation to the neighborhood fabric.
On April 11th, the project has been included in the site visits of the first edition of Primavera R Festival, an event launched by the Urban Resilience Lab Barcelona to provide intensive training to practitioners and showcase initiatives in Barcelona metro area with a focus on city resilience. Over 350 participants joined the event and the vibrant networking evening. Monday’s power outage in Spain and Portugal is a reminder of the relevance of city level discussion and engagement about climate resilience and quality of life in our urban areas.
Look at this Instagram Reel!
List of Contents
Existing program: Cornellà Natura Axes
Cornellà Natura is a strategic 10-year project (2016–2026) led by the Cornellà de Llobregat Town Council to make the city greener, more biodiverse, and sustainable. The plan integrates natural and urban spaces to improve environmental quality, connectivity, and quality of life.
The model identifies existing green areas, urban features, mobility networks, and public spaces, organizing them into five green axes that link neighborhoods to surrounding natural spaces. These axes promote ecological continuity, social interaction, and sustainable mobility.
The Five Green Axes:
- Axis 1: From Pedró to the Llobregat River Park, linking agricultural land with the city through the Siemens area, L’Església Square, and streets to be redeveloped.
- Axis 2: From Esplugues Road to Salines, connecting Can Bagaria (industrial site), L’Estació Square (a key transport hub), and Les Aigües Park.
- Axis 3: From Sant Ildefons to L’Hospitalet Sud, linking parks and facilities along the Ronda de Dalt and future green spaces like Rondes Park.
- Axis 4: From Can Fatjó to Can Mercader Park, running east–west along the railway and connecting major parks and green avenues.
- Axis 5: From the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park to L’Hospitalet, crossing urban parks and future redeveloped areas along main roads.
These green corridors aim to blend nature with the city, fostering a more livable, connected, and resilient urban environment.
Nature Based Solution (NBS) in Cornellà
As part of the Cornellà Nature strategy, the city has adopted a range of nature-based solutions to enhance urban resilience, promote biodiversity and improve public spaces. These interventions integrate natural elements into the built environment, transforming streets, parks, and underused areas into green, multifunctional spaces. Key solutions implemented in Cornellà include: strips and vegetable gardens, sustainable paving, planting of trees and shrubs, and vertical and horizontal green structures.
Project’s timeline
The project is structured in three key phases, each progressively expanding the scope of nature-based interventions in the Sant Ildefons area.
- Phase 1 (2025) focuses on testing small-scale solutions to reduce heat stress through a community workshop near Escola Torre de la Miranda. This includes nature-based solutions (NBS), public space improvements, and tactical urbanism to create a cool spot for children and families.
- Phase 2 (2032) expands the intervention to connect the school with Plaça de Sant Ildefons using canopies and shading structures. Planned improvements may include a green roof over the sports field and the removal of paving to foster biodiversity.
- Phase 3 (2040) introduces a full masterplan for the area, transforming public spaces to complete the climate adaptation network. This includes depaving car parks, planting trees along roads and over underground parking structures, and integrating green walls, roofs and additional shading elements to create continuous green corridors.
