Urretxu‐Irimo

How can the site contribute to the adaptable city?

The proposed site is the municipality's largest area of opportunity, with a regional as well as a local focus. The results of the Participation Process will be interpreted in conjunction with citizens with a view to generating urban planning initiatives and strategies based on the resources that already exist (endogenous processes) and also open-ended proposals that do not compromise any future scenario.
The existing features of this area, the results of the Participation Process and the current socio-economic situation point towards a catalysing strategy that will culminate in a lively transformation process of the area into an urban zone that can rise to the challenge of any future transformation.

City strategy

The aim of any operation must be to create a SOCIAL CITY. The basis of the strategy must therefore be the result of the broad PARTICIPATION PROCESS, now complete, which has brought to light the following values of the Irimo Area:

1. Its strategic value on account of its location in the municipal, county and regional context, and also with respect to its place in the community's collective memory and identity.
2. The opportunity to regard an area from a broad economic perspective.
3. Formless chronourbanism, the value of actions implemented at a leisurely pace through time using catalysing strategies that give the area an urban character, must take public opinion into account at every stage with a view to generating a SOCIAL CITY.

Site definition

The area known as "Irimo" covers approximately 75,000 m2. It has a strategic location not only at the local scale (it is the southern entrance to the municipality), but also for the county (the interface between Urretxu, Zumarraga to the east and Legazpi to the west) and the region (its boundaries are traced by the Madrid-Irun railway line, and it is in the centre of the new Beasain-Bergara motorway backbone).
There are several industrial buildings in this area, as well as a township with 32 homes, Poblado Aparicio, built during the industrial boom for the influx of labourers.
Any activation strategy for "Irimo" will inevitably have direct effects on the boundaries of the Mugitegi, Arcelor Mittal industrial estate, the railway line and the nearby residential districts (Ipeñarrieta), on the road network and pedestrian paths and greenways that link the three municipalities.

Adaptability, main elements to take into account

The basis of all strategies must be the PARTICIPATION PROCESS and its maps of memories, missed chances, opportunities, the resulting potential scenarios which must be assimilated and resolved and, in particular, the STEERING GROUP emerging from this process, which will be the guarantor for the participating citizens, the development and the management of the "meanwhile" project in conjunction with the winning team.
The competition allotment is primarily a repository of the town's memory of its industrial heritage. Part of the "Irimo" building is listed in the industrial heritage catalogue, while another central structure (Sarralde) is in the process of being classified on account of its imposing concrete structure. This municipal property could be used as a catalyst for the entire strategy, given that both parts are features that remind us of the past but at the same time may also become future protagonists, precisely the structures that are required to activate new social, economic and cultural production processes.
The housing blocks in the Aparicio township are quite clearly suffering from neglect and a deficient connection to the town centre.
The main urban planning constraints are highlighted by the urban noise map, which shows that the location (road and rail traffic, steelworks opposite) will oblige abatement measures or uses that are consistent with the provisions and the Territorial Zoning Plan (PTP), which sets out the general guidelines for this area.
The current regulations in force require a modification of the area's specific planning regulations in the case of such operations. Flexibility and a broad scope of the regulations covering any initiative are therefore guaranteed. Moreover, there would be no objection if the influence of any proposal on the surrounding areas required their modification.
Most important of all, however, is that all of these factors and considerations will be subordinated to the public participation process, its review and its development, with a view to fulfilling the ultimately aim of WEAVING A SOCIAL CITY.