Fight Against Social Exclusion. Old City Integral Plan, Zaragoza (Spain)

Para consultar la versión castellana de este documento, pulse aquí.

Reference Date: 26-07-1998
Experience selected in the 1998 Dubai Award for Best Practice, and catalogued as BEST. ( Best Practices Database.)
País/Country: Spain

United Nations Region: Europe
Ecological region: Continental
Activity: Neighbourhood
Partnerships: Central Government. Regional Government.

Themes = Housing: access to housing finance; affordable housing; homelessness; land tenure and security. Poverty Eradication: access to credit; income generation; job creation. Social Services: education; health and welfare; public safety; recreation.

Main contact:
Alfredo Pérez Palacios
Town Hall of de Zaragoza. (Local government)
Casa Morlanes-Pza. San Carlos s/n
50001 Zaragoza
SPAIN
Tel: +34 976 72 18 01
Fax: +34 976 72 18 08

Partner:
Housing Subdirection.- Help for Houses
Ministry for Development. (Central Government).
Paseo de la Castellana, 67
28071 Madrid
SPAIN
Tel: +34 91 597 70 00
Financial Support

Partner:
Subdirección General and Programmation of Budget Analysis Ministry of Economy. (Central Government).
Paseo de la Castellana, 162
28046 Madrid
SPAIN
Tel: +34-91 583 73 03
Fax: +34-91 583 73 17
Financial Support

Partner:
General Direction Communitarian Matters
County Concil (Region of Aragón). (Regional Government)
Pza. de los Sitios s/n
50001 Zaragoza
SPAIN
Tel: +34-976 71 42 38
Financial Support

Organización Nominadora
Marta García Nart
Comité Nacional Español
Paseo de la Castellana, 67
28071 Madrid
Tlf: +34-91 597 75 72
Fax: +34-91 597 86 04
E-mail: mgnart@mfom.es

Key Dates

S U M M A R Y

Former situation:

• Loos of 10.000 Inhabitants within the last 15 years.
  
• 4% of excluded population.
  
• 12% of precarius population.
  
• 23,6% of population over 65 years old.
  
• 29% of private - owned houses are empties.
  
• Enviromental degradation and increasin harm of
  de urban scene.
  

• Recuperation of 2.884 neighbours in the last 2 years.
  
• Reduction of problemas as exclusion and precarity.
  
• Recuperation of the historic - artistic patrimony
  
• Consolidation of sources of economical atraction and development.
  
• Improvement of the educational level and laboral qualification of the most disfavoured.
  
• Public promotion of new housing and rehabilitation of the private houses now existing.

• Public promotion of housing with a public - supported rent system to logde low income families.
  
• Recuperation of the historic valve of Roman area of the town, spreading towards the Middle Age area.
  
• Enviromental improvement by the creation of green areas.
  
• Public employment and formation for people suffering exclusion and precarity, in jobs related to the rehabilitation of the Historic part of the town.
  
• Private houses' rehabilitation promotion by public support.
  
• Concentration of efforts on streests as focus of development by new activities.
  
• NGO's participation in process.

• Importance of integrating sectorial policies as housing, employment education, considering the housing as the most important space for socialization and the work as the main factor for economical integration.
  
• Implement of active social policies to make easier the realization of socially useful jobs for excluded population.
  
• Support the Community by its social and economical organizations.
  
• Support cultural integration as a factor of social cohesion.

N A R R A T I V E

1. Situation before the beginning of the action
Zaragoza , located in Aragón, Spain, is a city with two thousand years of history: Romans, Arabs and Jewes have left their historical sign. Its Old Town is the area of integration, cultural diversity and artistic monuments which different
cultures have rosen among the time.
The trade development brought the growth of the city, and with it came the abandonment of the Old Town, which has been specially intense during the last twenty years.
The urban emptyness was filled by new neighbours with problems of exclusion and margination, and that is why a process of territorial exclusion began, so as the acumulation of urbanistic, social and economic problems. All these motives have orginated the development of this action.
The relationships with associated organizations, have been developed with the co-operation in sectorial projects to the participation in actions about social and urban planning.
The social, economic, and environmental context is characterized by a centre zone, the Roman area, which has the majority of the monumental character and trade, keeping on the first actuation with the objective of to be the engine of the rest that have been concentrated the most importants problems in urban damages, sub-standard housing, high level of unemployment, lefts housing, high level of excluding population, drug addiction, ageing people and a low education level for residents.

Preparing information and clarifying priorities
The first strategy was defined about the recuperation of the Roman Area, which could be the engine of the development of the two depressed areas that surround this zone, being this a main objective from the year 1997: in this plan are designed -based in our previous experience- new strategies in which the "social matters" orientate the actions in each particular field (housing problem, health, education, economic development, social services, sport, culture).
In this direction, our priorities have as a main objective improving residents' quality of life, creating social and town conditions in order to attract private iniciative. These ones are specified in these points:

• Environmental improvements, creating new areas in order to bring sun and fresh air of these areas, respecting the design of the streets.
  
• Improvements of water and residues networks.
  
• Easing the access of housing to the colectives with a low incoming level, through public promotion, so as the access to a low rent accomodation for young people in order to repopulate the Old Town.
  
• subsidize private restoration of houses.
  
• Improving the laboral qualification of unemployees.
  
• Creation of temporary public work for the excluded population works of social utility relationed with urban restoration.
  
• Improving educative level of population.
  
• Improving social attention to women, old people and children.
  
• Give an impulse to economic activities in order to attract enterprises fomentin craft specialization in several streets: (street of music, street of antique furniture....)
  
• Recuperating the Historical and Artistic Heritage, with its effect for the turistic development.
  
• Keeping the participation of social organizations in the proccess of development and overcoming the actual situation.
  

2. Formulation of objectives, strategies and mobilization of resources
Every city excludes not only people, but also areas which have lost population, economic activity, historical heritage so as public and private investment. This is the case of the Old Town, area which measures of social protection are the last platform to take an impulse to recuperation. The main objectives of the plan are:

• Keeping the population who lives in these areas.
  
• Atraccting new population in order to enhnce the social level.
  
• Strengthening social comunication, with the participation of the comunity in the solution of the existing problems.
  
• Keeping the existing economical activities and easing the implantation of other new ones.
  
• Keeping the identity signs of the City Centre from the historical and morfolical point of view.
  
• Increasing the function of the Old Town as city centre.
  
• Acquisition of sole whose destination will be public equipment, free areas and housing construction.
  
• Acquisition of buildings for a public restoration, with a destination of houses and equipment.
  
• Public promotion of housing, based in restoration, to different population sectors of different economic status.
  
• Keeping and restoring the Historical, architectonical and popular Heritage.
  
• Improving the level of equipment and specific services, according to the needs of population.
  
• Increasing the green areas and taking care to the existing ones.
  
• Renovation of infraestructure.
  
• Improving the accesibility inside the Old Town.
  
• Lowing the traffic through the City Centre.
  
• Increasing the space destined to pedestrians.
  
• Improving urban scene.
  
• Getting the participation of private iniciative that will be able to complete the work made by public administration in the field of housing construction and implantation of new economic activities.

The Integral Plan "produces city" and social integration trough integrated and complementary strategies, as these ones:

• Restoration and improvment of existing housing.
  
• Public promotion of new housing and attraction of private iniciative.
  
• Creation of cultural and sportive equipment in order to foment the cultural development and social participation.
  
• Consolidation of the existing economic activity, strengthening new future activities.
  
• Realization of "alive" political measures of social protection, that will allow the incorporation of the unemployed and the excluded in the works of restoration.
  
• Creation of several attraction focus, which will act as impulsors of the least favoured areas.

3. Process

• Creation by public iniciative of social and urban conditions in order to drag private iniciative.
  
• Difusion of the Values and function of the Old Town in the city.
  
• Concentration of actions on the street to act as a development focus of innovating actions.
  
• Management of the annual budget.
  

• The concentration of social and urban problems.
  
• The enviromental conditions difficult the rythm of some works of restoration.
  
• The low economical activity and th low competitivity in trade, so as the existing economic activities

4. Achieved results
The Best Practice has evoluted from 1987 until the redaction and approval of The Integral Plan (1997 - 2004), which incorporates new strategies and working methods. The results are collected in these points:

• Construction of 494 flats of public promotion, with a subsidized rent for families with low incoming (for the period 1997-2004, 400 new houses made with oficial protection are going to be built).
  
• Recuperation of monumentality and turistic development of Roman Area.
  
• Improvement of Social Services with measures of social protection (economic help for urgent needs, home help to old people -200 cases-, teachers on the street, 2 centres of freetime for children, Social salary for families with low incomes).
  
• Eigth centres of occupational formation managed by ONGs.
  
• A workshop-School to learn construction jobs for young people between 16 and 25.
  
• 50 jobs have been created for excluded peple, in order to improve the urban scene.
  
• 2 Centres of Information and Prevention of AIDS and attention to prostitutes, with an annual attention to 1.500 persons.
  
• 290 economic helps for private housing restoration, which have generated and inversion of 381 million ptas.
  
• Opening of the Centre "House of Cultures", orientated to social, cultural and economic integration of inmigrants.
  
• Renovation of the 40% of the supplying and pouring out water networks.
  
• Creation and consolidation of the Comunitary Development Association, which envolves 34 associations.
  
• Creation of the Sectorial Council, as an organ of social participation.
  
• In the period 1994-96, the district increased in 2000 residents.

The accumulated experience allows us to conclude that the actions which have to be developed must to have continuity in time. Punctual actions are not enough to modify the urban scene if the are not completed with programmes of social, cultural and economic development to foment the social union and participation of residents in the soluctions of the punctual problems.
The main capital of The Best Practice is the co-operation during all this time of social organizations, during all the process.
The stengest points of the sustainability are concentrated inthese points:

• The approval of the Integral Plan by the Town Hall, to its realization in the next 8 years, continuing with the actions made in the period 1988-1995.
  
• The approval of a rule of foment in order to renovate private housing, subsidizing their owner, depending to their incomes.
  
• The approval of a rule of foment in order to modernize the actual shops and trade centres, and install new economic activities.
  
• The creation of a Sectorial Council, centre of participation of the social and economical agents, institutions and professionals.

The city takes part in the named NET-C6, which group the european cities Valencia, Barcelona, Mallorca, Toulouse, and Bordeaux. Through this association a lot was learnt about rehabilitation
and economic re-activation through the development plans of the city of Toulouse.
This knowledge of experiences was completed trough The Communitarian Iniciative URBAN

Transference
The lessons that The Best Practices can give can be used in every social and urban context, because they are aportations in the fight against exclusion.

1. It is necessary to begin with a sustainable and long-term plan, which has to operate as a Local Development Plan, in which excluded population will be able to find a job, inside private or public iniciative.
   
2. It is necessary to concentrate actions on the street to create strong points of development in the enviroment, introducing new activities and strongly specialized.
   
3. Developing active social protection politics, searching and developing the cultural potential among the margined sectors, and creating jobs with a social utility.
   
4. Housing and School have to be the two basic columns to avoid the reproduction of proverty and lack of opportunities.
   
5. Improving an organized comunity to strengenth the social union, cultural integration and tolerance as main capital, in order to avoid important social fractures.
   

5. The experience in numbers
Financial Profile:

1988-1996 Total operating budget: 12.000.000.000 ptas.

• Contribution of Partner A: 10%
  
• Contribution of Partner B: 0%
  
• Contribution of Partner C: 4%
  
• Contribution of Partner D: 86%
  

• Contribution of Partner A: 32,7%
  
• Contribution of Partner B: 0%
  
• Contribution of Partner C: 11,02%
  
• Contribution of Partner D: 56,1%
  

• Contribution of Partner A: 12,1%
  
• Contribution of Partner B: 24,1%
  
• Contribution of Partener C: 3,9%
  
• Contribution of Partner D: 59,9%