Madrid Río Park. Symbolic values and contingent valuation

In rehabilitation and urban development strategies is of central importance to evaluate alternative design solutions. A technique that makes it possible is Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), which allows to assess the economical convenience and the financial viability of a project, considering monetizable costs and benefits. The value of non-market resources can be estimated with Contingent Valuation (CV), a utility-based method that asks the users of a good, with the administration of questionnaires, to express the maximum amount they would be willing to pay to preserve or improve the good. The paper illustrates the application of the CBA with reference to the case of Madrid Río Park in the Spanish capital. Madrid Río is a linear park realized along Manzanares’ riverbanks, an area passed through the M-30 motorway until the year 2004. The construction of six kilometres of tunnels enabled to retrieve this site and to create an extremely valuable public space.