Experts on Central Park: "A great opportunity for Alicante"

What will the creation of Alicante's Central Park mean? What changes will it bring to the city's layout? And for the lifestyles of its inhabitants? The development of Central Park involves creating a large green area of half a million square meters, aiming to be a peri-urban park that surrounds Alicante up to the Rabasa lagoons. The largest urban operation in the city in decades, analyzed by experts gathered by TodoAlicante at the TodoXAlicante forum held at Casa Mediterráneo, with the support of the Vectalia Mobility Chair and the Ministry of Environment, Infrastructure, and Territory.

The meeting included participants from all sectors and administrations involved, from the Territorial College of Architects and real estate developers to the Alicante City Council and the Generalitat Valenciana. All agreed that the development of Central Park represents a "great opportunity" for Alicante, each with their particularities.

For Emilio Vicedo, president of the Territorial College of Alicante, "Central Park represents a new coastal front, with an average width of 200 meters," which will allow "an opportunity to rethink the city" and "will rebalance facilities and aim to extend with a green ring, connecting with neighborhoods."

A treat for any administration to "design a high-quality and reference space," according to Luis Gaona, General Director of Works and Projects at Alicante City Council. "The city has been growing due to demographic pressure," he explains, but now there is an open space to design roads, buildings, public facilities... And the development of 21st-century Alicante.

According to Manuel Ríos, General Director of Transport and Logistics at the Ministry of Infrastructure, "we are starting to lay the first stone and from there, the best connection throughout the city," with trams connecting the southern area (Ciudad de Asís, Pau 2, La Florida) with the center. In this regard, Mauricio Úbeda from the Vectalia Mobility Chair points to the development of the 'Maisonnave-Aguilera super avenue,' a project advanced by TodoAlicante, with reserved platforms on Aguilera Avenue and Catedrático Soler as an alternative: "To compete with private vehicles it must have a reserved platform. If we want to attract people to public transport, we have to make it attractive in terms of time," he said.

Regarding this matter, Manuel Ríos points out that "we have a radial transport system that works very well," although he admits that "we have problems in Los Ángeles and Alfonso el Sabio areas; therefore we need a public transport lane." Therefore, "the continuity proposed along Aguilera Avenue is necessary," giving it continuity with a bus lane along Orihuela Avenue to give it purpose.

The regional official assigns tasks to Alicante's urban planning: its "lack of pedestrian areas," despite recent works, and "giving priority to public transport."

The president of the College of Architects is very ambitious with Central Park, which he asks to expand throughout the city: "For citizens it is important to have a large green infrastructure, but we need planning to generate a green mesh connecting us with spaces: San Fernando, Santa Bárbara, Serra Grossa...". The keys to this green transformation must come from "public leadership," without a doubt but accompanied by "citizen participation."

The TodoAlicante forum also included neighborhood associations and social groups such as the South Neighborhood Federation who requested completing the coastal front with the expansion of Parque del Mar (Integrated Operation number 2), or Salvador Ivorra, Vice-Rector for Infrastructure at Alicante University who questioned how works on Alicante's Central Station will be compatible with using the terminal and the number of vehicles accessing it.