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White Paper on Sustainability of Spanish Urban Planning
José Fariña Tojo, José Manuel Naredo (directors)
<<< Results of assessment |1.0 Preserve, maintain and protect the natural capital| 2.0 Define a more sustainable urban structure and model >>>

1.0 Preserve, maintain and protect the natural capital

1.01. Preserve existing ecosystems (natural and artificial)
 This criterion has been considered for cases in which specific reference is made to natural environments, habitats for natural species, ecological values, biodiversity and ecosystems in general. In Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia and Rioja this point includes any mention of «environmental conservation» or «environmental protection» without being any more specific, so these have been reviewed in parallel.

1.02. Respect and integrate into the territory
 The few cases making reference to topography or hydrography as questions to be taken into account for management of the territory or urban growth in particular have been considered, as have those that specifically mention integration into the territory. In some cases allusions to integration, despite seeming to be related more to infrastructures than to the land itself, have also been included (as is the case in Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Madrid Region, the Murcia Region, the Basque Country, Aragon, Extremadura, Navarre and the Valencia Region).

1.03. Connect the various protected areas
 Besides specific references to connecting different protected spaces, questions related to livestock trails, which are very important in Spain, have also been included. Given the possibility that confusion could arise over Connect different green areas ecologically criterion (corresponding to Favour access to nature (green areas) section), both criteria have been reviewed in parallel.

1.04. Respect the landscape
 Any reference to the landscape, including those to natural monuments, to picturesque values and aesthetics in general, whether in a natural or urban landscape. There is considerable diversity, with some very generic articles and other more specific ones.

1.05. Conserve the land (reduce consumption and preserve its productivity)
 The references are almost invariably to protecting land from pollution (together with Reduce pollutant emissions and dumping criterion corresponding to the Manage waste to reduce its impact section) and erosion, via forestry or farming uses or simply by conserving vegetation. Also includes any mentions, in general somewhat dubious ones, from which a reduction in land consumption could be reduced. Mainly in Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Madrid Region, the Murcia Region and the Basque Country.

1.06. Give priority to local production
 Refers to any mention of protecting, subsidising or fostering traditional economic uses in the territory, and specifically traditional activities around protected spaces.

Discussion

In general we find that there is a clear disparity of ways in which this criterion is considered. As it is closely related to purely environmental issues (and more specifically to the consideration of protected areas), national legislation has more to say on the topic, under the corresponding minimal competencies. However, in some regions —the Balearic and Canary Islands, the Madrid Region and the Basque Country, in particular— the topic is dealt with in considerable depth. Of the six specific criteria, those in which interest is lowest are connecting the different protected areas and favouring local production, both of which are of great importance if sustainable territories and societies are to be achieved. In particular, attention should be paid to the European Union's recommendation for the few European areas that have barely been anthropised yet not to be left isolated as independent relicts. The question of local production is equally important in order to avoid the excessive displacement of materials and goods, leading to excessive consumption and pollution differentials.

With regard to the criterion on respect for the landscape, virtually all the Spanish regions address it via their urban-planning or impact-assessment legislation, and in hardly any cases (Catalonia and the Valencia Region being the only exceptions) has any specific legislation on this been enacted. However, the current situation is only temporary, because ratification of the European Landscape Convention has led many of the regions to begin to draft their own specific laws.

There are also very few references to respect and integration in the territory (despite the flexibility with which this indicator has been considered), with considerable attention being paid to the preservation of existing ecosystems. This is probably due to the leftover effects of the former Natural Space Conservation Act 1989 (now replaced by the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Act 2007), which has done so much to preserve Spain's natural heritage. In many cases, this Act, and in particular Natural Resources Plans, have been the only limit reining in the uncontrolled growth of the urban-development process. The scant attention paid to natural and human risks (a key component of this criterion) is surprising, particularly the question of flood-prone areas, which ought to be a primary-level conditioning factor in the drafting of planning.

Another criterion of great interest that is barely reflected in the legislation is the one on soil conservation (except in the Balearic and Canary Islands and the Basque Country). In a country where the process of desertification advances year after year, with the added circumstance of climate change worsening the problem, the few legislative references found on this matter came as something of a surprise, and those that are in place tend to be too generic. And as for the need to reduce developable land, indirect mentions can be found on regeneration and on fixing not only maximum but minimum densities to allow a certain urban population concentration and make urban facilities and collective-transport systems socially and economically viable.