Costa del Sol Towns
In fact, the eastern
part of the city is a long narrow strip of land boxed between sea and mountain.
The natural area of expansion is from the west of Malaga to the resulting broad plain between
the river and the Hoya de Malaga, where large areas have emerged throughout the
twentieth century.
Puerta
del Mar
The rural exodus, in the rest of Spain was producing wine since the
late 50s. They were supplanting orchards and the Vaquerías industrial ruins. These
areas were populated as working-class districts on a massive scale by young
people from the interior of the province or elsewhere in Andalusia,
attracted by job opportunities related to tourism and the industrial boom.
The result was from poor urban planning that is
being corrected gradually. At present, the modern and future Malaga sits there. Until well into the 90âs,
these areas had the typical crowd Corralon small houses that look at a gallery
overhanging around a courtyard or central square, with a well or a fountain in
the center, some still standing today. Some of these Corralon houses can be
seen in the neighborhoods of El Perchel and La Trinidad.
Malaga Center and
suburbs
Topographically Malaga
could be defined in terms of a large city like an inverted âTâ with the river
Guadalmedina as the vertical axis still marking the only geographical division
in the city. There are three physical conditions that have marked the history
of the Malaga city, the Mediterranean Sea, the Guadalmedina River and the proximity of Montes de Malaga.
During the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries the bulk of what is now known as Historic Center,
east of the river Guadalmedina, was established, the route however is
characterized by the irregular inheritance of the Muslim era. Among its buildings
are mixed dwellings, some centuries old, (with varying degrees of preservation,
many of them in ruins or in the process of restoration), and other nineteenth century
buildings of more recent construction.
Carcer Vista Street in the center
In the slums of the east, with the exception of the area around the Malagueta, there
are predominantly single-family homes, ranging from traditional fishermen's
houses on the street adjacent to the coast, to villas with gardens in the
neighborhoods and the occasional Pedregalejo Limonar - The legacy of the Malaga
industrial bourgeoisie of the nineteenth century.
At the eastern end is the popular neighborhood of El Palo, an old enclave of
fishermen who have retained their unique flavor in spite of the urban growth
that has suffered in the second half of the twentieth century. Paseo Marítimo
de El Palo retains many of its fishermen's houses, taverns and atmosphere while
maintaining the traditional image of Malaga
provincial and marinera.
To the west bank of the suburb was Guadalmedina urban and industrial area where
workers, day laborers and other classes were usual residents, maintaining this
situation until well into the twentieth century, except in the district of El
Perchel, which remained an Arab suburb dating from a period before the
Reconquista.
La Concepcion
Botanical Garden
The main park is the Parque de Malaga, which has already been mentioned, in the
center of town. Beside this are the Jardines de Pedro Luis Alonso Gardens - Puerta
Oscura.
In the suburbs, there are four botanical gardens that once formed part of
private villas and are now open to the public. In the far north are the La
Concepcion Botanical Gardens; the gardens of the Finca San Jose in the
southwest; and the historic Garden Retreat and the historic Garden Consul.
At present several
kilometers of coastline have been recovered and ambitious plans are being
carried out to make urban districts such as Carretera de Cadiz and Cross Shrine
(nearly 350,000 residents) into the most dynamic city, with plans including an
underground railway, financial skyscrapers, modern sports facilities, and auditoriums,
but also excluding the traffic in the heart by creating a large pedestrian area,
and so on.
To remedy the historical lack of green
areas in the west of the city during the 90âs development began of a series of
public parks such as Park Huelin, North Park,
the Park and Park West Mediterranean. Slightly older than these are the
Jardines de Picasso, located at Avenida de Andalucía.
In the eastern mountainous terrain are preserved tree masses, namely the
Gibralfaro Mount, Mount
Victoria and Morlaco.
Moreover, within the limits of the municipality are the Natural and the mouth
of the Guadalhorce Parque Natural Montes de Malaga.
