By Juan Alberto Belloch Julbe

Within just over twenty months, Zaragoza will face the challenge of appearing before the world as the organising city of Expo 2008, an international thematic exposition dedicated to water and sustainable development.

In terms of international prominence, of urban transformation, of public and private investment and of visitor attraction, this is undoubtedly one of the most important moments in the history of the city.

During my intervention, I am going to briefly explain the strategies we have used to try to convert this event into a force that will create quality of life for all the citizens; into something that will last, as the central theme of this Forum 2006 says.

There is plenty of literature about the role that large international events play as driving forces for the development of cities and as milestones that are able to improve the positioning of the organising city with respect to its global competitiveness. There are also critical opinions from those who doubt the real profitability of this type of operations and those who believe that, even when they are successful, this success is accomplished at the expense of diverting economic resources from the more underprivileged districts and social sectors.

In my opinion, the benefits for the host city of an event such as an Expo are indisputable, and almost unbeatable by any other type of event or initiative. However, there are certain economic and social risks that merit serious attention.

Based on our experience in Zaragoza, I can inform you now of our first conclusions on how to successfully face up to that challenge. These are three basic action principles that might perhaps be interesting for other cities:

Firstly, they must be projects that arise from the long-term vision of the actual city. An Expo alone cannot change the status of a city, but it can act as a catalyst that will accelerate a transformation process that has been previously put into motion. It is not a miracle, it is a closing date.

The second conclusion is that the urban changes associated with these large projects must benefit the whole city, all the citizens. It is not just a question of a partial plastic surgery operation, but of getting into shape.

Finally, we believe that it is essential for life not to end after the Expo. There must be a long-term urban project, which will maintain the activity after the Exposition and which will give it some meaning, making the most of the momentary advantages related to international visibility, tourist promotion and infrastructure improvement. The Expo cannot be the finishing line, but the starting point for a whole new phase for the city.

How have we applied these recommendations in Zaragoza?

Zaragoza is the fourth city in Spain regarding economic activity and the fifth regarding population volume, with around 700,000 inhabitants. Of the large Spanish cities, it is the one with the greatest demographic growth, due to the arrival of immigrants from Ecuador, Rumania and North Africa, mainly.

It is situated in the Northeast of the country, half way between Madrid and Barcelona, which we are or will soon be connected to by the new high-speed train. It is a city with a strong industrial tradition, with powerful activity sectors in automotion, machinery, logistics or chemical products.

We have a very favourable socioeconomic condition, with a higher income per capita than the Spanish mean as well as a very low unemployment level. We have a valuable cultural heritage, the fruit of two thousand years' history throughout which the city has enjoyed moments of great brilliance, and an important public university with five centuries' experience.

In all, it is a city that maintains a good quality of life in spite of its size, with demanding citizens who appreciate the traditional virtues of the Mediterranean city, where you can walk practically anywhere and where people love to stroll and meet their friends in the streets.

Alongside these positive aspects, the city lacks sufficient national and international importance and does not have the infrastructures necessary for it to become a great city. This means it has less capacity to attract visitors than would be desired, the development of the New Economy sectors is weak and, in short, there is a loss of professional opportunities and attraction for many of our young people.

As it is the capital of a sparsely populated region Aragon, our market has a reduced size for some activities and this hinders our competitiveness when attracting new companies.

As a result of this diagnosis, for some years now, Zaragoza has been conducting an analysis on the opportunities and initiatives required for the city to be able to take a step forward and construct a new identity to compete in the globalised world. This analysis was formalised in a Strategic Plan whose main feature was the participation of many groups and institutions of the city until a total political and social consensus was reached.

It was within this context, and once some of the initiatives of that urban transformation project had been put into motion, when the idea that Zaragoza should be a candidate for organising the 2008 International Exposition arose, coinciding with the first centenary of the Hispano-French Exposition of 1908, which was a very successful precedent in the modernisation of the city.

The Expo was, then, seen as a way of accelerating the changes that were already occurring in the city. An instrument to achieve, in just four years, what would take twenty years at normal investment rates.

The second great concern has consisted in doing everything necessary for Expo 2008 to be a great success -- and for this we have the permanent assistance and commitment of the BIE-- but not doing anything that will not be useful and long-lasting for the life of the city after the Expo.

We are constructing the Exposition in an area that is fully integrated into the urban fabric of the city, in order not to create artificial and peripheral neighbourhoods. After the Expo, Zaragoza will have a large metropolitan park and a site of magnificent quality for companies, education and research centres, public offices, museums and cultural centres, amusement and entertainment places. All of this at walking distance from many places of the city and with perfect communications.

Another very valuable legacy that the Expo will leave in the city will be a collection of singular buildings and public spaces with great architectonic quality: the Bridge-Pavilion (Zaha Hadid), the Water Tower (Enrique de Teresa), the Congress Centre (Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano), the Pavilion of Spain (Patxi Mangado), the Pavilion of Aragon (Daniel and Alberto Mangado) and the Third Millenium bridge (Juan JoseArenas) will be some of the milestones which will outline the Zaragoza skyline in this new century.

Architecture has always played a capital symbolic role in the construction of cities and over the last few years, enthusiasm for emblematic buildings has been renewed as a way to search for an image of innovation and competitiveness, in order to attract visitors and investments. Cities need new cathedrals that will reflect our entry into the Information Age. But apart from being beautiful they must be socially useful, culturally deep-rooted and sustainable from the financial and environmental viewpoint. That is what we have attempted in Zaragoza.

The Expo is not going to leave anything that the city does not need to be able to accomplish its objective of being one of the most attractive and dynamic European cities in the next few years: more and better hotels, a congress centre, museums, ring-roads, a renovated airport... thanks to a public investment program of 1.730,7 million euros (2.200 million dollars)

The improvement of the quality of life in the city is going to be a fact thanks to all these facilities and the increase of green areas, but the advantages are going to extend to the whole city. In fact, the most emblematic project of all the ones that are being carried out is the recuperation of the banks of the Ebro river, which crosses the whole city from west to east. Furthermore, the municipal government has started up a small investments programme in all the neighbourhoods of the city, with a sum of 700 million euros in just three years. It is essential for these large construction works not to leave the small daily needs of the city unattended.