«The Urban Agenda is a National Urban Policy that is configured as a framework of a strategic and non-regulatory nature, which seeks to guide decisions and policies that affect the territorial and urban sphere with a global, integrated vision and continued over time»
Sonia Hernández Partal is Deputy Deputy Director of Urban Policies of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA). Graduate in Law, Urban Planning Technician and Master in Urban Planning and Territorial Studies. She has worked for 12 years in the General Subdirectorate of Urbanism of the Ministry, first as a Technical Adviser and, for the last five years and up to the present as Deputy General Deputy Director of Urban Policies.
The Spanish Urban Agenda is a strategic document that pursues the achievement of sustainability in Spanish urban development policies and constitutes, in turn, a roadmap for all stakeholders, public and private, involved in the management of the city and that pursue its equitable, just and sustainable development. Sonia has coordinated the process of elaboration of the Spanish Urban Agenda from the Ministry and has formed part of its drafting team.
Good morning, Sonia, thank you very much for taking care of NAIDER. First of all, I would like to ask you the reason for the Agenda Urban Spanish. Taking into account the framework imposed by the criteria established by the 2030 Agenda, the new Urban Agenda of the United Nations and the Urban Agenda for the European Union, what does the Urban Agenda respond to Spanish? Why has MITMA decided to prepare a document of this kind? type?
The Agenda Urbana Española is prepared by MITMA precisely in compliance with the commitments acquired by Spain in the international agreements that you cite: the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030; the New Urban Agenda of Nations Nations and the Urban Agenda for the European Union.
The Agenda Urbana is a National Urban Policy that is configured as a framework of strategic and non-regulatory nature, which seeks to guide decisions and policies that affect the territorial and urban sphere with a global vision, integrated and continuous over time. It is addressed to all agents whose decisions, activities and proposals have an impact on the urban areas of the whole territory, also those found in a rural environment.
What is your function? This document shows a clear vocation for action, transferring strategic aspects to concrete actions framed in the framework of a roadmap for cities. In this sense, how does the Spanish Urban Agenda to become a true plan of action for the cities that adopt it?
Yes, the Agenda Urbana is oriented towards action from reflection. Proof of this is the own document that was taken into consideration by the Council of Ministers on February 22, 2019 and that, in addition to being a Strategy in itself, has with its own Action Plan for the General State Administration that It is currently in the process of implementation and includes measures of a regulatory, planning, financing, governance improvement and knowledge exchange.
But the Urban Agenda is also a methodological guide that proposes an “à la carte menu” so that all actors, public and private, that intervene in cities, and especially Local Administrations, can prepare their own Local Action Plans .
These Plans, prepared by the Local Entities, regardless of their population level, must have a diagnosis of their starting situation in relation to the 10 strategic objectives from a transversal and integrated vision that must flee from the traditional vision sectoral and compartmentalized. From there, it is proposed to identify what has already been done by each Entity to contribute to the achievement of these objectives and to identify the new projects that, in accordance with the detected needs and once the citizens have participated, must be launched to respond to priority needs and opportunities. All this from a strategic vision, with actions in the short, medium and long term and accompanied by a system of control and monitoring indicators.
The Urban Agenda is a tool for municipalities to establish their priorities and transformative and innovative projects based on a reflection on their needs
One of the The main challenges cities face is in terms of financing, Many of them resort to European financing with the aim of financing transformative and innovative projects that contribute to the improvement of the well-being, in this sense, is there a coordination mechanism between the programming of the new European multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 and the Spanish Urban Agenda?
From the Ministry is committed because the strategic planning proposed by the Agenda Urbana also contributes to guiding and defining the new financial framework European multiannual 2021-2027.
The Agenda Urbana is a tool for municipalities to establish their priorities and transforming and innovative projects based on a reflection on their needs from a transversal vision and without being conditioned by the specific call requirements.
Once these priorities have been identified and decided, with the help of the public, it will be easier to access the available financing with guarantees of effectiveness and efficiency in the use of public funds.
The fact that have Plans that identify specific projects that respond to real needs and that are not the result of improvisation or that are designed exclusively for economic motivations, but are based on a previous diagnosis and that they are the result of a reflection will allow us to be more effective, more agile and more efficient. You can run the different projects with logic and the necessary vision of the future and, with this, we will help also to make urban development more sustainable from a social perspective. environmental, social and also economic.
Regarding the previous multiannual financial framework 2014-2020, the Strategies were promoted Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development (EDUSIs) as a support mechanism for cities in achieving smart, inclusive urban development and sustainable. To what extent does the Spanish Urban Agenda represent a continuation of EDUSIS as a pillar for sustainable growth of cities Spanish?
The Schedule Urbana starts from the Strategic and integrated vision that in its day they already raised EDUSI, and takes advantage of its experience to try to improve those aspects that, despite everyone’s efforts, they failed to achieve the objectives intended. In this sense, the Urban Agenda is committed to the elaboration of Action plans prior to the calls, highly participated and in which the leadership, governance and transversal vision proposed by the 10 Goals strategies of the Agenda is essential to identify projects integrated and high impact for urban areas.
The periods of urban transformation of a city in accordance with current legislation Spanish differ greatly from electoral periods. This circumstance, on many occasions has an impact on the launch of projects without apparent correlation or continuity with urban strategies previous. How does the Spanish Urban Agenda contribute to solving this problem? of coordination and legitimacy in the management of cities? Is the Agenda Urbana Española a kind of social contract for socioeconomic development of a city?
In our opinion, the Urban Agenda contributes to give continuity to the projects because it proposes a strategic planning that must comply with three fundamental characteristics.
The Ministry is committed to the Urban Agenda helping to guide and define the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027
On the one hand, the Action Plans must start from an objective diagnosis of the reality of the territory that, by identifying weaknesses and threats, opportunities and strengths, allows the selection of specific actions and projects to respond to previously prioritized challenges .
On the other hand, is committed to very active citizen participation processes that allow us to are linked to specific projects but above all to the definition of the own strategy of the town and the city as the immediate environment in which develop life.
Lastly, and directly related to the above, the broad participatory processes and very generalized give legitimacy to the agreements of the local corporations that, in most cases, bet for their approval by the maximum political consensus that responds to the commitment with the citizens and lays the pillars so that the road map proposed by the Plan of action has a better perspective for the future.
Another major challenge facing city management is inter-institutional coordination in urban management. There are numerous cases in which administrative limits condition the effectiveness of urban development policies. Bearing this in mind, has any inter-institutional coordination mechanism been contemplated that enables an improvement in the implementation and administration of the Urban Agenda at the local level?
Among the strengths of the methodology proposed by the Urban Agenda, is precisely its support for improving governance understood from its broader perspective as an improvement in coordination between administrations; a real boost to citizen participation and an improvement in leadership from the territory. All of them fostering a common language for all municipalities regardless of their level of population.
Strategic planning must transcend the strict jurisdictional system defined by the sectoral spheres to design transversal frameworks for action that guarantee the adoption of coherent and integrated policies that take advantage of synergies and contribute to improving the lives of citizens.
The Ministry is working with more than 120 Local Entities that are called to become benchmarks for other municipalities that want to develop their Action Plans
From MITMA A great effort is made to disseminate the Spanish Urban Agenda at the national level. local, promoting the exchange of experiences and pilot projects around its implementation. In this sense, at what point is the adoption of the Agenda by Spanish cities?
At this moment, and within the framework of the call for aid for the preparation of pilot projects of local action plans of the Urban Agenda, the Ministry is working with more than 120 Local Entities, which from contexts and starting points very different, they are an example of quality and uniqueness and, therefore, they are called to become good references for other municipalities that want to prepare their Action Plans in accordance with the methodology proposed by the Urban Agenda.
Also in the Within the framework of this dissemination effort to which you refer, MITMA is carrying out extensive training work around the Urban Agenda, its methodology and its possibilities for achieving urban development and more sustainable farm. Proof of this is the direct collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces for the implementation of the Urban Agenda at the Local level through the organization of workshops; or the I work with the Universities that are turning to bring closer the future professionals a different way of looking at the towns and cities that commitment to the Urban Agenda and strategic planning. It also highlights the coordination of actions between the administrations themselves both at departmental in the General State Administration as with the Communities Autonomous.
In this sense, actions such as the celebration, in October 2021, of the first edition of the Urban Forum of Spain, provided a boost for the configuration of a new platform for the exchange and dissemination of knowledge among all urban agents that favors network work. Also noteworthy are the efforts to bring the Urban Agenda closer to the little ones through the preparation of an informative Guide and its approach to schools through the Urban School Agenda that is currently being developed. Other actions such as the Catalog of inspiring good practices for integrated projects aligned with the objectives of the AUE; or the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which includes among its main structural reforms the implementation of the Urban Agenda itself, are undoubtedly benchmarks that commit us to continue working, in collaboration with the rest of the agents, on a tool that we consider useful to achieve a better and more sustainable development of our towns and cities.
