Greenways in Europe: Opportunities to recycle the railways in Spain (Valencia)

Abstract

Knowledge and enhancement of natural, cultural and landscape heritage is needed by society to meet the challenges of sustainable development. The abandonment of communication infrastructure owing to obsolescence, new forms of communication or the introduction of more profitable transport does not destroy their connecting character and the means of transport for which they were conceived. In the specific case of the railway system, it represents one of the main infrastructures of a national nature, which through its associated elements educates on the history and culture of a country. Following the abandonment of some railway lines, its rails, bridges and stations have become opportunities for a new form of urban, interurban and territorial mobility. If this is approached from a strategic perspective, and its role as potential means of alternative connection is explored, new ties, communication and approaches to a region can expand the options for sustainable mobility.