Castalla approves plan to build a more sustainable and accessible municipality
- The plenary session of the City Council has recently approved the adhesion to the Alliance of Cities for Sustainable Development of the Generalitat
Castalla Town Council has launched a local strategy for the rehabilitation of the municipality’s built environment. The aim of this initiative is to outline the guidelines for the future of the town in terms of urban planning. In this sense, explained the town’s mayor, Antonio Bernabeu, “our intention is to organise the territory by moving towards a rational use of land, avoid urban sprawl, promote social cohesion, manage the water cycle and promote access to housing for citizens”.
In this strategy, Castalla undertakes an analysis of its urban reality in order to propose actions that facilitate sustainable development within the social, economic and environmental dimensions. As explained by the councillor for Town Planning, Raquel Guill, “this is a key commitment to design the society and policies of the future of our city, marked by the exit of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 and the negative effects of climate change”. The councillor assured that “having this plan will allow us to access different grants from the Generalitat Valenciana which we would not be eligible for without it”.
Specifically, the project is broken down into up to seven lines of action, designed to be implemented over the next few years. The first of these is new trees, street furniture and improved accessibility to Castalla’s roads, on which work is already underway. We can also find improvements in different streets and in the accessibility of the old town; the implementation of new green areas; the conservation and improvement of the historical heritage; energy efficiency actions in the urban environment and the maintenance of road signs.
This commitment to rational urban planning is part of the ‘Alliance of Cities for Sustainable Development’. The City Council has recently approved in plenary session the adhesion of the municipality to this initiative, promoted by the Department of Participation, Transparency, Cooperation and Democratic Quality of the Generalitat Valenciana. It also takes into account other key documents such as the Spanish Urban Agenda and the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience, ‘España Puede’.
Thus, the project seeks to comply with the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. This is a set of ambitious goals to transform the world by meeting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through these goals, the UN seeks to raise awareness among citizens to deepen the good governance of cities and promote their sustainable, equitable and inclusive development. With this adhesion, the Consistory of Castelló opens the door to collaborate in joint actions within the ‘Alliance of Cities for Sustainable Development’. In addition, this allows the city to do its bit in the articulation of global citizenship starting from the local level.
