Land use planning in the Valencia Region (Spain) (1986-2009)

The total absence of land use planning in the Comunidad Valenciana (the Valencia Region) after twentyfive years of autonomous government is deliberate. It is a consequence of an ultraconservative ideological position opposed to public sector intervention in land use planning; but also it is an attitude of pragmatic opportunism because of the discretion of action which it permits and because it allows the avoidance of conflicts with municipal governments that would give rise to authentic land use planning. Thus one can see the kind of exception that this situation creates today in the context of Spain, in that almost all of the autonomous Regions have regional land use plans and plans for the most important subregional areas. But one reaches these conclusions, more than anything else, based on the activities of the conservative autonomous Valencian government since 1995 and especially through a detailed analysis of its documents and the contents of some land use plans which were completed but never approved.