Restoration of an urban river in Barcelona,Spain

The paper describes the “environmental recovering” of the Besòs River, a torrential river flowing through the urban area of Barcelona. An overview of river history and current problems and the aims and social constraints for the restoration are presented. After that, the design of a meandering low flow channel within the floodway is dealt with. Constructed wetlands to improve water quality were planned for the floodplain on both sides of this channel. Scale models, fixed-bed and mobile-bed, were then built to test the floodway conveyance and the risk of scour or deposition in it.