The mayor of Alhaurín de la Torre, Joaquín Villanova, has raised the need for a joint housing and land plan at the 'Málaga Global Metropolis' Mayors' Forum. He has also called for metropolitan water management and deemed the Cerro Blanco dam essential.
The mayor of Alhaurín de la Torre, Joaquín Villanova, participated in a new session of the Mayors' Forum 'Málaga Global Metropolis', organized by the Ciedes Foundation in collaboration with the Málaga Provincial Council, the Junta de Andalucía, and the municipalities of the province. The meeting was held at the Málaga Palace of Fairs and Congresses, as part of Greencities, Urban Intelligence & Smart Mobility.
During his speech, Villanova proposed moving towards a Metropolitan Housing and Land Plan that would allow for understanding the real availability of land across all municipalities and addressing housing needs from a supramunicipal perspective. "We need to promote a joint plan and know the real land availability that all municipalities have," he stated.
The mayor appealed for collaboration between administrations and municipalities to tackle issues that, in his view, require coordinated responses. In this regard, he argued that "the response must be metropolitan in scope" and called for a "constant effort" to advance towards concrete solutions.
Villanova also highlighted the evolution of the forum itself, which includes representatives from various Málaga municipalities and other entities. "This forum has become increasingly ambitious, and that is important," he said, while pointing out that the metropolitan dimension of Málaga "is a reality," although he warned of the risk that growth could create new difficulties if not accompanied by necessary planning and infrastructure.
"Problems are pressing us, and we must overcome them united to avoid collapse and dying from success," the mayor asserted, defending that the goal of these meetings should go beyond mere diagnosis. "We cannot limit ourselves to providing diagnoses, but must offer solutions as quickly as possible," he emphasized.
Within the framework of the Mayors' Forum, various working commissions have been created to analyse issues such as mobility, housing, water, and energy. Villanova argued that these groups should have an "agile, useful, and results-oriented" structure, so that the work developed can translate into concrete actions.
Regarding water, the mayor pointed out different lines of action, including promoting tertiary treatment, reducing losses in infrastructure, advancing in tariff homogenization, preventing overexploitation of aquifers, and improving water quality. He also deemed the Cerro Blanco dam "essential." Villanova particularly stressed the need to approach water resource management from a joint perspective. "Water cannot be addressed individually by each municipality, but from a metropolitan viewpoint," he concluded.
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