“L'Horta” of Valencia is the agricultural area that has acted as the main economic engine of the city of Valencia and its surrounding towns since the Middle Ages to the 1930s. The area has been mainly irrigated by the river Turia.
It is an agricultural area whose activity is based on making the most of available water. The area has experienced structural, functional and morphological developments as a result of the different economic, political and social changes in the history of Valencia.
In the past, it was an extremely cultivated rural area with groups of houses, alquerías and barracas which were connected one another by small roads and paths. This area is currently endangered by the urban expansion of the metropolitan area of Valencia.
Since 1950s, the city of Valencia started to expand out of its walls into the horta that surrounded it. First, the expansion was slow and kept the economic and social balance between the city and the fields.
Nonetheless, in the first decades of the 20th century the urban area largely expanded detracting the closest villages. It has created an urban metropolitan area, in which more than 1 million people live.
Within this metropolitan area there are still some agricultural areas (some bigger than others) that are the remains of the old abundant Valencian Horta.
