On 20 and 21 October, La Laguna will become the epicentre of the debate on the future of urban planning in Spain when it hosts the seminar ‘A look at urban planning from the perspective of food’, an initiative of the Tenerife City Council and the Network of Municipalities for Agroecology (RMAe) with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation and the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030.

The meeting will bring together public officials, urban planning professionals, social and academic entities to reflect on how to integrate healthy, sustainable and accessible food into land use planning instruments. In addition, La Laguna, which is currently in the process of tendering for its new General Land Use Plan, is hosting this forum at a key moment in defining its city model.

The mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, believes that ‘organising this seminar in our city is a recognition of La Laguna’s commitment to territorial planning that puts people at the centre. And as an island town, we are very aware that the Canary Islands, due to their territorial wealth, have a lot to contribute to this debate’.

The mayor recalls that ‘we are finalising the tender for our new General Plan and the contributions that emerge from this meeting will be fundamental in building a fairer, greener and more resilient city. We want urban planning to dialogue with food, the environment and public health’.

The Councillor for Land Use Planning, Adolfo Cordobés, emphasises the technical and strategic importance of the seminar at a crucial time for the future of the municipality, based on the premise that “urban planning cannot be separated from food systems. In La Laguna, we are committed to ensuring that the new PGO incorporates criteria of sustainability, protection of agricultural land and improvement of quality of life, and this forum allows us to compare approaches, learn about good practices and reinforce the territorial component of food policies. It therefore becomes an opportunity to move towards a model of municipality that responds to the challenges of the 21st century, with rigour and a vision for the future.

In this regard, the Councillor for Rural Development, Cristina Ledesma, points out that ‘La Laguna is demonstrating that it is possible to link land use planning with transformative food policies. This seminar seeks precisely that: to activate tools that protect fertile soil, promote agroecology and guarantee healthy food for citizens.’

For her part, the technical secretary of the RMAe, Nuria Alonso, believes that “this seminar marks a milestone in the history of the Network of Municipalities for Agroecology, reinforcing our vocation as a space for innovation, knowledge transfer and social and technical advocacy. It also strengthens the inter-municipal network by generating synergies, shared learning and new alliances, which will serve as inspiration and guidance for those municipalities seeking to integrate food into their urban policies.”

The seminar is based on the premise that the way cities and territories are organised conditions the environment, health, access to food and the protection of agricultural land. In this sense, it considers that territorialising food systems means looking at urban planning from the perspective of agroecology, activating regulatory and technical tools that enable transformative food policies to become a reality.

To this end, the Network has set up a specific working group on Food Systems and Urban Planning, and this seminar is one of the results of its work, which seeks to bring the necessary information on territorialised food systems to those responsible for and involved in land use planning and urban planning.

Over two days, the seminar will address experiences such as the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park, the Bierzo Land Bank and the Vitoria-Gasteiz General Plan, and will feature interesting lectures, participatory workshops and visits around the La Laguna area.

The initiative is aimed particularly at municipal technical and political leaders, urban planning and development professionals, and anyone interested in the link between land, food and sustainability.

Registration until 15 October

Admission is free, but due to limited capacity, it is necessary to register in advance before 15 October. The full programme and registration form are available at https://www.lalaguna.es/actualidad/eventos/Seminario-Una-mirada-al-urbanismo-desde-la-alimentacion/