The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council has unveiled the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Project, a venture aimed at collaborating with the Metrópoli Foundation to outline the future design of an intelligent and sustainable municipality that effectively addresses both current and future challenges. The initiative has been bolstered by the Moeve Foundation, which has formalised its role as a partner in this forward-thinking commitment, striving to create a smart urban design that meets present and future demands.
This will involve harnessing the city’s unique values and strengths while pinpointing essential initiatives that enhance competitiveness, promote productive diversification, and ensure environmental and cultural sustainability, alongside fostering social cohesion and development within the local population.
During a ceremony at the Town Hall this morning, the Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, alongside the first deputy mayor and the councillor for Strategic Planning, Environmental Sustainability, and Public Services, Carlos Tarife, joined Teresa Mañueco, the director of the Moeve Foundation, and Alfonso Vegara, the President of Fundación Metrópoli, in formalising the collaboration agreement.
Mayor Bermúdez expressed his delight at the project, stating, “I am very pleased with this undertaking involving these two foundations, which guarantee that the process will be conducted properly. This project will incorporate public-private collaboration and community input to transform and enhance our urban landscape for the future.” He added, “Santa Cruz is the result of 536 years of triumphs and failures, and we want the city’s future to be built on the maximum number of successes and opportunities.”
Furthermore, Carlos Tarife, the councillor for Strategic Planning, Environmental Sustainability, and Public Services, remarked that “today marks a significant milestone. All too often, we concentrate on the present, yet when planning for the long term, it is vital to pause and envisage a better Santa Cruz.”
In addition, the mayor noted, “This is an ambitious initiative where we anticipate that exciting ideas will emerge for Santa Cruz over the next 15 to 20 years. It involves bringing successful urban transformation models and tailoring them to our city.”
Alfonso Vegara, President of Fundación Metrópoli, elaborated on the global role of cities, stating, “Cities are the engines of the global economy, which highlights the importance of a project that addresses significant challenges in social cohesion, employment, and competitiveness.” He provided examples from cities they have previously collaborated with and asserted that “Santa Cruz possesses areas within its urban fabric that can be transformed through partnerships between public and private sectors to draw international investment.”
During the agreement signing, Teresa Mañueco, director of the Moeve Foundation, emphasized the uniqueness and excitement of the project. “Our Foundation aims to facilitate Santa Cruz in achieving greater sustainability for the city where Cepsa was founded, which was recently transformed into Moeve, 95 years ago. Just as the city has witnessed the growth and progression of the company and its foundation, we now aspire to assist it in reaching its utmost potential through the city of the future, establishing itself as a model for sustainable development,” she stated.
The research associated with this initiative will enable the design of the city of the future, drawing upon Fundación Metrópoli’s proprietary study methodology, which benefits from insights gained in over 50 cities around the globe.
This presents an opportunity to cultivate a territorial project that benefits from robust social and institutional backing. This will steer local public and private initiatives towards coordinated actions based on shared and mutually agreed goals, aligning sectoral interventions from both regional and national perspectives.
To achieve this end, the three participating entities will work to identify and foster a network of alliances with companies and other institutions, paving the way for their contributions to the comprehensive development of the project’s work plan. This will involve the sharing of information, knowledge, experience, and innovative approaches to promote sustainability in the capital’s urban design.
The initial phase will see Fundación Metrópoli conducting an exhaustive analysis of the territory that encompasses ongoing plans and projects, urban design, environmental frameworks, and the social and productive landscape. This analysis will conclude with an initial technical assessment, which will be validated in a forum involving key stakeholders from the city. Following this, a second phase will involve presenting the conceptual design hypotheses of the strategic project, which will be evaluated in a further city forum, culminating in the preparation of a final document that encapsulates all findings from the City Project.
About Fundación Metrópoli
Fundación Metrópoli is an international centre of excellence dedicated to research, the arts, technology, and innovation within the urban setting. Its mission is to contribute to the sustainable growth of cities and territories, enhancing their competitiveness, quality of life, and overall sustainability.
Since 1997, it has collaborated with numerous cities worldwide, implementing its philosophy of “Smart Territories” to generate impactful projects. This approach merges urban intelligence with digital technologies in the crafting of regional ecosystems, cities, urban landscapes, architecture, and design. The “Cities” methodology applied in over 50 cities globally, including Singapore, Medellín, Yokohama, and Casablanca, is designed to conceptualise participatory visions for the future and to develop vital strategic projects for urban transformation.
In Spain, it has been involved in the urban transformation of cities such as Madrid, Bilbao, Málaga, Alicante, Alcobendas, and Tres Cantos to bolster their competitiveness and urban development.
About Moeve Foundation
The Moeve Foundation is a non-profit entity dedicated to serving the general public interest, positioned as a transformative force in the context of ecological transition. Its three strategic areas are People, focused on ensuring societal well-being; Biodiversity, through initiatives aimed at caring for and restoring ecosystems, particularly wetlands; and Social Innovation, to drive and support transformation during the ecological transition.
To evaluate the proposals and refine the hypotheses, a specific questionnaire will be devised and distributed among members of the City Forum. This user-friendly and illustrative document will articulate each operation and action proposal, complemented by questions designed to gauge acceptance levels for each suggestion. This methodology facilitates the identification of subtle distinctions in the proposals made, as well as new ideas, including the prioritisation of their development over short, medium, or long-term timeframes, as well as the degree of commitment that different institutions may be prepared to undertake.
