Madrid Nuevo Norte presents its proposal for an urban model against climate change at COP25

Distrito Castellana Norte presents Madrid Nuevo Norte’s sustainability strategy at the United Nations Climate Summit.

The largest single urban regeneration project in Europe is an opportunity for putting Madrid at the international forefront of urban sustainability measures.

Madrid Nuevo Norte’s pioneering sustainability measures and the project’s potential to thrust Madrid to the forefront of the fight against climate change are topics that will be discussed in different fora at the United Nations Climate Summit (COP25) that will be held from 2 to 13 December in Madrid.

The Madrid Nuevo Norte project will be presented at the round-table “Cities and buildings as agents of climate action”. This event will take place within the so-called “blue zone” of the Summit, the area managed by the United Nations, where negotiations and agreements on climate change will be held between the attending parties. Madrid Nuevo Norte will be presented as a shining international example of urban development in which the approach to water cycle management incorporates circular economy principles. The round-table will bring together leading international experts in architecture, urban planning and construction. Brendan Edgerton, Director of Circular Economy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WCBSD), will moderate the event.

DCN has also been invited by the Official Association of Madrid Civil Engineers to expound on Madrid Nuevo Norte’s strategy for sustainable and resilient infrastructures at the forum on Madrid’s engineering community’s contribution to the climate challenge. Ricardo Corrales, DCN’s Director of Sustainability and Innovation Projects, spelt out Madrid Nuevo Norte’s urban sustainability model, as well as the core measures that this project will put into place to transform infrastructures into a vital tool for actively cooperating in the fight against climate change.

Madrid Nuevo Norte’s urban sustainability approach will also be discussed by the working group on healthy and climate-neutral cities, organised by the European Commission and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, with the participation of Javier Dorao, DCN’s Innovation and Sustainability Coordinator. Both this working group and the presentation on infrastructures will take place in the so-called “green zone” of the Summit to be held at Feria de Madrid Convention Centre. The Spanish government seeks to encourage social engagement and raise environmental awareness in this meeting space for all citizens.

A variety of institutional initiatives will be taking place around this important international summit in Madrid throughout these days. The School of Architecture and Design of IE Business School sought to advance the global debate with the series of papers on “The ‘S’ Factor, Reinventing Cities of the Future”, in which Carmen Panadero, DCN’s Business Development Director, presented Madrid Nuevo Norte. Finally, the Official Association of Madrid Architects (COAM) organised a visit to the Madrid Nuevo Norte exhibition at 120 Castellana Avenue to bring this important urban regeneration project closer to civil society and architecture professionals. This forms part of a series of informational itineraries coordinated by COAM against the background of this international congress.

A space of opportunity for sustainable urban development in Madrid

Madrid Nuevo Norte, the largest urban regeneration project in Europe, is a unique opportunity to turn Madrid into the spearhead for introducing pioneering measures against climate change. Sustainability is a core vector that guides project development from the beginning. In line with other major global initiatives and pioneering urban sustainability projects, it seeks to become a benchmark for sustainability and innovation. Madrid Nuevo Norte intends to scale up the measures taken in the project not only to the local and to the regional level but also nationally and internationally.

The project covers 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda, one of the benchmarks that has guided the development of the project, with particular emphasis on Goals 6, 7, 11 and 13, which focus on water and sanitation; affordable and non-polluting energy, sustainable cities and communities and climate action, respectively.