The Huerva River, for decades an underutilized watercourse, almost hidden and degraded in its passage through the Aragonese capital, is beginning a historic transformation that will turn it into one of the main green corridors of the city. The Zaragoza City Council has inaugurated the interactive and traveling exhibition «Experience the Huerva», an artistic and educational proposal aimed at bringing the ambitious project for the comprehensive regeneration of the river closer to the public, largely funded by NextGenerationEU European funds.
The installation, composed of four repurposed shipping containers transformed into sensory and exhibition spaces, will remain open to the public until March 22 at one of the most emblematic green lungs of Zaragoza. The Councillor for the Environment and Mobility, Tatiana Gaudes, and the Councillor for Urban Planning, Infrastructure, Energy and Housing, Víctor Serrano, presided over the official opening of the exhibition.
“We are going from having a river that is almost hidden, poorly attended from an environmental perspective, and that, above all, Zaragoza residents could not enjoy, to having a great green corridor,” Gaudes stated during the event. For his part, Serrano emphasized the paradigm shift: “We are going to stop seeing this river as an urban gap.”
The regeneration project for the Huerva has a total investment close to 32 million euros. The first phase, already completed, allocated 8.85 million for land preparation and preliminary works. The second phase, currently underway and expected to be completed by the end of 2026, exceeds 23 million euros and includes significant interventions:
- Construction of a storm tank to improve flood control
- Complete renovation of sanitation and supply networks
- Elimination of invasive species and recovery of native flora
- Planting of 190,000 new trees and shrubs
- Widening of the riverbed to reduce flood risks
- Creation of five new parks and renovation of three existing ones
- Reurbanization of eight adjacent streets with pedestrian priority
The exhibition “Experience the Huerva” transforms the containers into immersive experiences: the sound of water, aromas of native vegetation, plays of natural light, and videos recreating the future riverbank landscape. One of the containers hosts an artistic intervention by creator Rebeca Zarza.
The outdoor space becomes a meeting point for talks, workshops, family activities, and temporary exhibitions. This awareness initiative complements other already established actions. The ultimate goal is twofold: to recover the biodiversity and water quality of the Huerva, and to weave a new relationship between Zaragoza residents and one of their most characteristic waterways.
