Location

Els Rajolars is an urban area intended for residential use and covering an area of more than 17 hectares. It is located within the municipality’s main urban centre, bordering the Sant Francesc and La Carrasca neighbourhoods, next to Oliva’s historic centre.

It extends along the town’s main street, Paseo de Els Rajolars, as far as the residential area of Ciudad Jardín, a housing development located on the outskirts of the urban centre. It is set in a valley between two mountainous formations, the Montaña de Santa Ana, in the north, and the Montaña Algar, in the south; between the two lies the natural bed of the Riuet de los Frailes ravine. Els Rajolars was previously an industrial centre producing ceramic products for the construction sector. Its microclimate (drier than in the rest of the municipality) the proximity of the clay mines, and the existence of water were particularly conducive to this activity, which reached its peak during the 70s. As a legacy of this past, a group of ceramic production warehouses are still standing here today; although mostly abandoned, they perpetuate a strong local industrial identity with their chimneys, furnaces, buildings and large drying areas.

It is currently a run-down urban area that, due to urban growth, has ended up as an industrial island surrounded by highly differentiated residential areas. On the one hand, the Sant Francesc neighbourhood and the area to the north of that in question, the Carrasca, both slightly marginal. On the other, the elitist residential development known as the Ciudad Jardín.

In short, Els Rajolars is an area which has a privileged location within the territory of Oliva. Due to its proximity to the urban area, it has great potential in terms of promoting functional diversity and mitigating the urban vulnerability of adjacent areas, while improving the border between the city and the immediate agricultural and natural area.