DESIGNING TERRITORIAL METABOLISM

207
ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES
IN POST-OIL SCENARIOS IN
TARRAGONA PORT
Nils Fischer and Lars Wüstemann (Heating and Cooling District) / Asier Ovejas (Coldport)
Studio Carles Crosas and Jorge Perea (ETSAB)
The urban area Tarragona-Reus is an emerging small metropolis one hundred
kilometers outside of Barcelona, with remarkable economic and urban attributes.
One rather exceptional characteristic of the area is the accumulation of large elements
of infrastructure: one of the five most important ports in Spain, a high-speed
train connection, the third Catalan airport, and the highways of the Mediterranean
Corridor that cross the area. The territory is further characterized by a double bipolarization:
two towns—Tarragona and Reus—with more than 100,000 inhabitants
spread over a traditional network of smaller settlements; and two major distinct
economies—the petrochemical industry and tourism—overlapping on a historically
agriculture-based economy. The mixture of all these elements creates very special
conditions for a an unconventional urbanity.
The nature of this metropolitan territory offers an enormous scope of opportunity
from the perspective of urban metabolism. Flows of energy and goods around
the port, specialized industry, and logistics areas invite us to understand current
dynamics and explore new options for making the systems more efficient. In spite
of the fact that the petrochemical industry is the most characteristic activity in
the area, there is also a wide range of uses from automotive logistics to agro-foodtransportation,
industrial material processing, logistics, etc.
Nowadays, the port authorities intend to achieve a greater economic diversification
in the years to come, as they are conscious of the unknowns that come with
post-oil scenarios. At this point, an updated reflection on the economy of the port
and the petrochemical area should also be linked to social and geographical issues,
in order to improve interaction between the city and the territory. Regarding the
infrastructure, the more connected the port and city become, the more likely it will
be possible to achieve a situation in which both city and port can benefit from each
other to a greater extent.
Furthermore, the Francolí River—which touches the historical city of Tarragona,
with the port placed just in the mouth of the river—will also be one of the
main actors on this new stage. The river, with its typical Mediterranean torrential
water flow, has historically acted as a border between the central residential city
and a peripheral area for industrial and logistic uses. As a city with dynamic growth,
it’s time for Tarragona to reimagine how to sew the city around the river and to
explore new programs to take advantage of this excellently located area with strong
national and international connections.