Redevelopment of the Velodrome Park

The project

The purpose of the Velodrome Park redevelopment project is to link up with already completed projects and the Riera Park and Canódromo Woodland projects that are still in progress. It also continues the Green Cooling Line project, part of the 2016 LIFE call for proposals, which aims to provide new guidelines for urban design focusing on environmental ethics, new aesthetic proposals and finding solutions to the urban heat island that will expand as climate change worsens.

Consequently, this project is based on creating a large green urban corridor and achieving the results that historic Mediterranean gardens provide: passive vegetation solutions to the heat. This includes thermal mitigation due to evaporation, plant evapotranspiration, the evaporation of water surfaces, radiation reflection and using the sea breeze.

As part of an urban green corridor, they will all help to significantly decrease the heat-island effect and mitigate climate change through plants absorbing carbon and the soil profile.

The project also aims to restore a space of historical and heritage importance for the city of Palma since the entire area has gradually degraded since the cycle track closed in 1973.  In total, the project surface area includes 19,360 m² of green space and 509 m2 of buildings and facilities.

Palma’s Tirador Velodrome, open from 1903 to 1973, is the oldest track in the Spanish State and the 12th oldest worldwide. It was the country’s reference track for six decades until Anoeta Velodrome was built in San Sebastian in 1965. Official races regularly took place there while it was in operation and it was probably the track where the most official championships of Spain and the Balearic Islands were held.

In 1918, the architect Gaspar Bennàssar designed a building called the Chalet shaped like a small temple next to its western bank, whose position afforded an exceptional view of the cycling races held there.