Madrid Río 

The 2015 Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design, awarded by Harvard University’s GSD, went to Madrid Río, the project that has transformed the banks of the Manzanares River, a work of the team led by Ginés Garrido, including Madrid studios Burgos & Garrido, Porras & La Casta, and Rubio & Álvarez-Sala, in collaboration with the Dutch landscaping firm West 8. Created in 1986, the prestigious prize acknowledges the importance of sustainable urban spaces that contribute to a positive perception of the public space and improve the quality of urban life. The jury found that all these qualities are present in the operation through which the Manzanares Linear Park was created. The project stretches on top of a buried ringroad, regenerating the river banks and helping to revitalize the neighborhoods located along the river, connecting the water with the city. Madrid Río is devised as a flowing sequence of landscapes that generate a varied route, and though during the crisis it was criticized for economic reasons, no one questions its success in returning life to a marginalized part of the city.