The urban unit formed by the spring, the pond (La Charca) and the Orchard of Pegalajar is an essential part of the economic-cultural-historical heritage of Pegalajar, as recognized by his statement as "Place of Ethnological Interest" and its inclusion in the General Catalogue of the Andalusian Historical Heritage. The pond (La Charca) has been an important meeting place and social interaction, progressively integrated into the urban fabric, it has become a real "square"; an area for walking, recreation, bathrooms, playgrounds, and courtship ... Central location for the development of much of the symbolic, festive or otherwise, occurring in Pegalajar actions.
All these reasons have made the fountain, pond and the Orchard of Pegalajar, along with other related uses and water management elements that have been recognized as a cultural asset of the Andalusian Ethnological Heritage. Water and its management are the main social and economic activity of Pegalajar, and as such they are part of its history and culture. This Water Culture has become a major defining trait, creating values that are distinguishing features of life in the town. After desiccation of the natural aquifer of Pegalajar, strong citizens' movements mobilize the public opinion and the representatives of the institutions to bring a motion in the State Senate on the pond (La Charca). Actions to recover the aquifer and return the water to the pond start as well as to regenerate the surrounding public space.
The commission arises through a design competition organized in 2007 by the government of Andalusia. The population of Pegalajar, has been claimed as the key player in the process of urban regeneration in the pond, demanding and calling for its participation in all phases of the project through workshops, meetings, participation cycles, ect ... The programme of requirements has been defined by integrating the proposals of all the agents, integrating playgrounds, areas for the Music Band, piers, spaces for holding local fairs, parking areas close to schools and health centers, removal of architectural barriers, woodland recovery, etc .
The project area is a chain of public spaces that come together around the "Charca", which is a natural reservoir that irrigates Pegalajar's orchards. It is part of a system that comprises an aquifer, a spring, a reservoir, irrigation ditches and orchards, with the peculiarity that, at one point, this system was once on the outskirts of town and now it has been "engulfed by it", creating what is nowadays, a new "center" within the town. By delimitating the public space that is the object of this design, we come to understand it as part of a system (aquifer, spring, reservoir, ditches, orchards) that is determined by the natural setting and the layout of the town, as well as its own urban structure: an axis that sits midway up the hill with three central focal points. That is why we use the term "marginal centrality."
Within the aquifer-spring-reservoir system water is the strategic resource, the symbol of a culture that defines the layout of the Charca and becomes the element around which public space is organized: uses are distributed, itineraries are laid out and the materiality of the proposal is established. The recovery of this public space is understood as a driving force of progress and a generator of wealth, hence it also offers support for future initiatives involving rural tourism, hospitality industries and economic activities linked to leisure and open space in order to make the most of the uniqueness of the place and what the proposal has to offer.
