Forêt métropolitaine, Urban forest project in Madrid, Spain
Bosque Metropolitano is an urban forest being planted in a ring around Madrid, forming a green corridor that links different parts of the city. It runs along paths open to walkers and cyclists and covers former industrial and extraction sites that had been left unused for decades.
Much of the land where the forest now grows was used for decades to dig out clay and stone for Madrid's construction industry. When demand fell, the areas were left bare until the reforestation project began in the 2010s.
The forest sits at the edge of several working-class neighborhoods, and many locals walk or cycle through it as part of their daily routine. For them, it is simply a place to move through the city without using a road.
The forest can be reached on foot from several neighborhoods on the outskirts of Madrid, and the paths are wide enough for walkers and cyclists to share comfortably. Since the project is still growing, it is worth checking in advance which sections are already open.
The forest does not follow a straight line but winds around Madrid like a broken ring, adapting to roads, rail lines, and city boundaries. In some sections, trees are growing on former landfill sites that had been sealed off for years.
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