In 2024, Valencia enters the final phase of several urban development projects that will improve the city’s infrastructure and mobility. But many others will still take years to materialize.
In this article we have compiled the 10 urban projects that will change the way we understand and live in Valencia over the next 10 years.
Undergrounding of the AVE high-speed railroad tracks
This is possibly the most ambitious project and the one that will have the greatest impact on the city of Valencia. It is initially planned for 2027 and will modify the configuration of the Parc Central, the current AVE Joaquín Sorolla high-speed train station and the union of the Malilla neighborhood with the rest of the city.
The undergrounding of the tracks will make it possible to link neighborhoods such as Ruzafa and Malilla in a uniform way without having to cross the division by means of elevated bridges or footbridges. This disappearance of the surface tracks will give a new configuration to the Joaquín Sorolla station and will create a large intermodal station in the former Estació del Nord, for bus and metro connections.
The “railway scar” will be replaced by a large Verde corridor that will reach the new Turia riverbed running parallel to the V-30. This Verde Zone will be integrated with the Parc Central, whose final completion depends on the undergrounding. The elimination of the Giorgeta bridge and the at-grade connections will make it possible to better integrate the park with the urban fabric.
New Town Hall Square
Although the current government team has announced that it will make some modifications to the initial project, Valencia has already approved a complete overhaul of the current City Hall square to make it more pedestrian and public transport friendly and to add small green spaces to the city center. The Re-Natura project even incorporates a small “urban beach” in the heart of Valencia.
New Grao neighborhood
The Zone located between Avenida de Francia and the port of Valencia is known as the “PAI del Grao”. This area will have 3,000 new homes (40% Public Housing), Verde zones and a connection between both ends of the riverbed. This development will allow an extension of the Avenue de France and the Alameda to the sea.
The PAI of the Benimaclet neighborhood has recently advanced towards its implementation after a year paralyzed with the idea of building more than 1,000 new homes on the edge of the Ronda Norte.
Desembocadura Park
The final section of the Turia Garden, known as the Desembocadura Park, will be transformed into an urban forest, with areas for citizen use and a large-scale play area that recreates the ship from Gulliver’s Wreck. In addition, there will be a sheet of water reminiscent of the old Natzaret beach. The (Con)flow project was chosen as the winner of the international ideas competition to design this park and is expected to be ready between 2026 and 2027.
Roig Arena
It will be the large multi-purpose stadium in Valencia, with a capacity of approximately 16,000 spectators. It is expected to be ready by 2025. Its construction is already in advanced stages and the result can be seen between the streets of Angel Villena, Bomber Ramon Duart and Antonio Ferrandis, near L’Alqueria del Basket and the Font de San Lluís pavilion.
Nou Mestalla
This is the great pending project in Valencia. The World Cup 2030 is the great trump card they are trying to play for its completion, but so far the machines have not been brought in to finish the work pending since 2009. Valencia C.F. has announced over the last few years its intention to finish it soon, with a new project
Vinival Project
The ‘Kremlin’ of Alboraya will be an urbanization with urban orchards and gardens. This sustainable neighborhood in the surroundings of the Patacona beach will have homes surrounded by 4,000 square meters of urban orchards and fruit trees and 16,000 square meters of landscaped areas with native species and pollination masses. Estudio Herrero, together with Metrovacesa, is in charge of this urban development project in the surroundings of the old Vinival bogedas.