The Valencian Urban Agenda: towards an urban development aimed at economic, environmental, and social sustainability
Summary
Valencia, Spain - The Valencian Community, an Autonomous Community of Spain, located next to the Mediterranean Sea on the eastern coastal strip of the Iberian Peninsula, is developing its own Urban Agenda aimed at economic, environmental, and social sustainability, which will serve as a useful, rigorous, and participatory tool to determine a flexible and coherent roadmap for the resilient and sustainable future of Valencian cities. The Agenda, aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including its 17 Goals, the New Urban Agenda, other global development agendas, and the Spanish Urban Agenda, considers the processes and characteristics of the Community, such as the complex urban-rural linkages in a highly urbanized territory -with more than 80% of urban population and three metropolitan areas-.
Once approved, the Valencian Urban Agenda (VUA) will inspire a set of urban policies in the Community through plans, projects and/or regulatory changes to achieve the objectives established and that must be independent of the political and/or economic cycles. The Agenda is intended to be the result of a generalized consensus at all levels to reflect the opinions and contributions of all social actors that the city have as the scope of their decisions.
In the Valencian Community, medium-sized cities play a crucial role in the provision of goods and services to the rural area and for the improvement of the territorial balance. The urban-rural border is not clear, but cities are highly dependent on the territory in which they belong, consuming their resources and, in many cases, outsourcing their pollution vectors. In this sense, the VUA will consider the complex realities of the territory, seeking to give them adequate treatment.
From an economic point of view, the VUA will emphasize cities as centres for spreading innovation and attracting talent, taking advantage of new economic models, and gradually achieving circularity in the urban economy, breaking with production models sustained on excessive consumption of resources of the territory and on the production of waste and emissions. Economic activity based on information and communication technologies will also be considered to improve the territorial balance and quality of life in cities and urban centres of the rest of the Valencian territory.
From the environmental sustainability point of view, cities contribute to tackling climate change through the implementation of policies that make it possible to enhance the environmental services of urban green infrastructure, the circularity of urban metabolism processes, the distributed energy model, air and water quality, reduction of pollution and efficiency in the use of resources. All supported on the use of new technologies and the promotion of a compact city model based on an adequate density, the mix of uses and the use of solutions and technologies based on nature.
From the social point of view, guaranteeing a city for the entire population through inclusive policies, access to housing and the goods and services of the welfare society will be a priority. The growing process of urbanization shows that spatial inequality in large metropolitan areas is increasing up to figures not known in Western society. In response to this situation, the Valencian Community seeks, as suggested by the New Urban Agenda, to place people at the forefront of urban policies with a comprehensive vision, and to avoid fractures that threaten the modernizing role and the conditions of coexistence that have always characterized the cities.
Based on the above, six major thematic areas have been proposed for the development of the VUA. Each of them has a strong transversal component and includes a series of contents that reflect the problems and opportunities for the future of Valencian cities, in addition, these areas may be modified because of the public participation process.
Urban Economy
Some of the aspects considered are urban districts for innovation and talent attraction, smart and sustainable tourism, new technologies, disruptive sectors, creativity and the cultural industry, the collaborative economy and corporate responsibility.
City and Territory
It includes a new relationship between the different urban systems, the promotion of medium-sized cities and social and territorial balance and cohesion, ecological and territorial connectivity, natural and induced risks including climate change, and sustainable urban and territorial models, among others.
Urban Governance
It refers to digital transformation, as well as bureaucratic streamlining and simplification, government networks, new financial instruments, citizen participation and transparency, among others.
Urban Quality and Health
Addresses urban resilience and metabolism, food sovereignty, air and water quality and the generation of waste, distributed energy and smart grids, green areas and open spaces, as well as urban ecosystems, among others.
Right to the City and Housing
It considers inclusive policies, neighbourhood improvement, treatment of public spaces, security, social justice, as well as gender equality, among others.
Connected city
It covers sustainable public transport, smart cities, mobility as a service, urban logistics and the decarbonization of transport, among others. The document called “Participated writing of the Valencian Urban Agenda. Methodology and criteria to define the participatory process and the drafting of the Valencian Urban Agenda” is currently available. This document sets the methodology and criteria to define the participatory process and the drafting of the Valencian Urban Agenda and has, among others, a documentary framework, map of agents, content structure and main topics for its participated writing. The Valencian Urban Agenda is about to enter to the drafting stage.
