Benidorm completes the naturalization of Gabriel Miró school playground

Benidorm City Council has completed another of its greening projects at several primary schools in the city. This time, the project was carried out at the Gabriel Miró school, which has more than 250 students. An area that was previously asphalt has been transformed into a green space with new trees and a surface of gravel, pine bark, and soil for the children to enjoy during their free time and recess. This project follows similar initiatives already completed at the Miguel Hernández and Leonor Canalejas schools.

The Councillor for Parks and Gardens, José Ramón González de Zárate, who visited the school accompanied by the Councillor for Education, Maite Moreno, reiterated his strong commitment to implementing these types of initiatives in the rest of the municipality's schools.

The renaturalization of school playgrounds is part of the ‘Benidorm Green and Water’ project, supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU.

The heads of both city council departments believe that renaturalizing school playgrounds “is one of the most effective strategies for improving children's well-being, promoting environmental education, and adapting urban environments to climate change through the use of various shade trees and aromatic shrubs to raise environmental awareness among students.” At the Gabriel Miró school, mulberry and tipuana trees, as well as some fruit trees, have been planted.

The playground designs, according to the projects, include permeable surfaces achieved by replacing cement with soil, sand, or drainage paving. Native vegetation has also been added through the planting of shade trees, shrubs, school gardens, and rain gardens. The project also aims to establish biodiversity zones with insect hotels, nest boxes, ponds, and mini-gardens, and to create natural play areas (logs, stones, ropes, mounds, etc.). Children will be taught about water management by collecting rainwater and using it for irrigation or educational experiments.

The physical transformation of the school playgrounds is accompanied by an educational project. According to Maite Moreno, "the goal is to integrate the playground into the curriculum, involve students in its maintenance, and foster shared responsibility."

For her part, González de Zárate pointed out that the City Council is pursuing "the creation of a playground renaturalization program with funding and technical advice that involves architects, landscape designers, and local associations; promoting regulations that incentivise the replacement of hard surfaces; and establishing networks of renaturalized playgrounds to share learning experiences among schools." The funding for this project, as mentioned, will be provided by the Biodiversity Foundation, with approximately €150,000 allocated, according to the councillor.

The councillor emphasised that “the European Union aims to bring the population closer to nature, to more pleasant and healthy areas, and this project contributes to that goal.” González de Zárate also announced that, in addition to the planned work at a fourth school, “two more projects will be carried out in public spaces, which will bring about a significant change.” “These are pilot projects to be extended to all schools and many other streets,” he concluded.