The General Urban Development Plan is dead! Long live the Municipal Strategic Plan!
The article analyses how Madrid's urban planning legislation, built on a classic, hierarchical model with the PGOU (General Urban Development Plan) at the top, has shown clear limitations in the face of a changing regulatory and social context: complex procedures, plans that are outdated from the outset, and increased uncertainty due to planning nullities.
In response to this, the Draft Bill on Land and Territorial Planning proposes replacing this model with a simpler, more flexible and strategic approach, in which the PEM defines the general planning and strategy of the municipality, while the PEA develop specific areas, integrating elements that were previously distributed among different instruments into a single procedure. In addition, some of the building parameters would be transferred to municipal ordinances, facilitating more agile adjustments.
The text emphasises that the transition will not be automatic (current plans will not be repealed immediately) and that it will be essential to monitor their practical application by municipalities. The authors, Juan Carlos Cardoso and Víctor Moralo, also point out that it is desirable for the flexibility of the new system not to be limited to urban transformations, but to be able to respond to rural land needs through PEAs.
