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Projecte llegit

Títol: Designing fire and drought resistant Mediterranean gardens

Estudiant que ha llegit aquest projecte:

Tutor/a o Cotutor/a: VALOR IVARS, TERESA

Departament: DEAB

Títol: Designing fire and drought resistant Mediterranean gardens

Data inici oferta: 25-04-2025      Data finalització oferta: 25-12-2025

Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    GR PAISATGISME

Lloc de realització:


En empresa (cal signar un conveni de cooperació)

        Tutor/a Extern: Rubén López Torrubiano
        Institució/Empresa: Domain systems, S.L.

Paraules clau:
Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), wildfire resilience, drought adaptation, pyroscaping, xeriscaping, garden design

Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
The work explores an alternative approach to garden design through a real residential case study in the El Mirador urbanisation in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, located within the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and increasingly exposed to risks of drought and wildfire. The project focuses mainly on designing a private residential garden to develop strategies that enhance both sustainability and fire resistance by integrating principles of pyroscaping and xeriscaping.
Three proposals will be developed: one focused on fire resistance, another on drought tolerance, and a third combining both approaches. Each design will include its own planting plan, irrigation strategy, and maintenance calendar. Budget estimations will be calculated, and discussions with the property owner will help assess the viability of each proposal. A wildfire simulation exercices will also be carried out to better understand the potential wildfire risks in the zone.
In addition to the individual garden design, the work explores the possibility of extending these strategies to all houses in the El Mirador urbanisation, proposing a comprehensive urbanisation plan in order to contribute to the development of adaptive, protective landscaping for fire-prone, water-scarce Mediterranean regions.

Overview (resum en anglès): Mediterranean landscapes are increasingly threatened by the dual pressures of prolonged drought and more frequent wildfires, particularly in wildland-urban interface (WUI) zones. This work explores how landscape design-specifically garden planning-can serve as a tool for climate adaptation by integrating strategies that address both water scarcity and fire risk. Focusing on a case study in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (Barcelona), the research combines site-specific fire simulation (FlamMap), ecological species filtering, and planting design to formulate three distinct garden proposals: pyroscaping, xeriscaping, and a hybrid pyro-xeriscaping approach.

Each proposal is grounded in a rigorous species selection process based on drought resistance and low-flammability traits, supported by climatic, hydrological, and soil data. A perimeter protection strip is also proposed in response to simulated high-risk fire zones, acting as a buffer around the designed space. A flexible irrigation system, adapted to each design's need, further enhances long-term resilience.

By integrating scientific analysis with spatial design, the work demonstrates how climate-responsive gardens can reduce vulnerability and improve ecological coherence in
Mediterranean residential landscapes. The work highlights the importance of combining multiple resilience strategies rather than addressing drought and wildfire in isolation.

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