20001006The University of Navarra publishes a book on Pamplona's urban development

Ediciones Universidad de Navarra (EUNSA) has just published "Usos del suelo y promoción inmobiliaria en el area metropolitana de Pamplona: 1957-1997", written by Professor Pau Serra. It is a study of urban planning and the evolution of land use, which is reflected in a color cartography. It also analyzes the role played by real estate agents, both public and private, distinguishing the different trends and their evolution according to periods and housing categories.

Up to the present day, the capital of Navarre has incorporated the typologies of growth and forms of expansion that characterize the city of our time. "Urban concentration loses relative importance in favor of residential and industrial growth in the settlements and industrial estates of the outer periphery," explains Pau Serra.

Metropolization' and historical heritage

For his part, Manuel Ferrer Regales, Full Professor of Geography at the University of Navarra, emphasizes that "the fifties are the starting point of the change experienced by Pamplona, which goes from a very simple urban structure to a more complex one. The city will progressively become an urban space that contains all the elements of a metropolitan area of subject medium".

Nevertheless, the capital of Navarre has its own identity elements that shape its urban personality: "The 'metropolization' and the peculiarities of its historical heritage explain why it is the only city that combines both characteristics in the context of the Pyrenees, both on the Spanish and French sides," says Manuel Ferrer. This Honorary Professor of the University of Navarra frames the evolution of the metropolitan area of Pamplona in the context of the transformations experienced by the European city. "The possibilities and needs for change in the metropolitan organization are greater in our time than in previous stages".