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BIZKAIA - Bilbao, a booming city
> Industrial banks, city banks
Bilbao Ría 2000
ilbao, the port city, the city that traded with the five continents, the city of shipyards, a port before it became a city, turned its back on the waters. Its backbone, the river estuary, the Ría de Bilbao, which flows through the centre of the whole of Metropolitan Bilbao, had become an obstacle for urban development.
Its banks were occupied by installations pertaining to the port, industry and the railways that not only isolated the Ría from city life but also compromised the very structure of the city itself.
The industrial recession of the 80’s had a significant effect on the city, and the large corporations deployed in this area were subject to their own individual restructuring processes; the trademark Euskalduna shipyards closed; the Port, in its quest to provide better services and deeper moorings, moved to the mouth of the Ría abandoning its riverside wharves; and Renfe, the railway company, also moved its facilities.
This situation meant land became available in the best riverside areas,
providing an historic opportunity for regenerating the city, for laying
it out anew, incorporating the Ría into the urban fabric.
In a bold and almost visionary decision, the Basque institutions and the
central government agreed to fulfil this objective, setting up Bilbao
Ría 2000 and embarking upon a process of urban transformation that
still has a long way to go, but has already become a model for many cities
throughout the world.