EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Sustainable building in the ecological town of Amayuelas de Abajo

Sustainable building in the ecological town of Amayuelas de Abajo - Palencia, ES

Introduction

In a small urban area context, the project combines traditional building methods with new technologies in order to improve the energy efficiency.

Problem

The village of Amayuelas de Abajo is mainly dedicated to agriculture, but is now economically depressed and at risk to be abandoned. The whole region, Tierra de Campos, is considered a priority by European programs. The village has got an important cultural heritage in risk of disappearance.

Description

Amayuelas is a very small village in a rural, economically depressed area in the Spanish province of Palencia. Ten private houses were built recently with traditional methods, earth and adobe walls, passive and active solar design, low environmental impact materials and using new technologies such as solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic cells.

They were finished in September 2001. The experience was supported by European programmes and the use of earth walls was laboratory-tested by the Edification Department of the Valladolid University.

Approach

The main objectives of this project are the following:

Valorization of the cultural and architectural heritage of the rural environment.
Exemplification of the possibility to participate in society from a rural environment.
Building using methods environmentally sustainable and renewable energies.
Creation of new settlements in an area prone to depopulation.
Social use of the assets.
Dinamization of the rural environment.

Contact info

María Jesús González, Jorge Silva, Francisco Valbuena, tel. +34 983394835

Project start date

30/11/2006

Links

Library Cities for a More Sustainable Future (Spanish)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing quality

Keywords

Housing design & standards