Today Mayor Toni Pérez has inaugurated the exhibition at Plaza SSMM Los Reyes de España
This is the new Benidorm: an exhibition to discover how EDUSI transforms Benidorm
The exhibition, which can be visited for free until May 18, explains the main actions of Benidorm's DUSI strategy
On the occasion of Europe Day, Mayor Toni Pérez today inaugurated the new exhibition This is the new Benidorm. "With the exhibition, This is the new Benidorm, we vindicate our legacy of urban planning, as well as the success of the vertical city model that has made us the paradigm of sustainable urban development," explained Mayor Toni Pérez.
The exhibition, through eight panels in English and Spanish, explains how the investment of 23 million euros from Benidorm City Council and the FEDER funds is transforming Benidorm into a more sustainable, green and comfortable city for its residents. "Although we have already presented some actions such as the improvements that have transformed the upper area of Foietes, this exhibition will allow residents and visitors to discover future actions such as the Cultural and Social Complex of Plaza de Toros and Parque de l'Aigüera, in which there will be a centre for associations, multicultural and for all ages and the construction of a central library at the height of what Benidorm deserves. Or the Social Mediation Center,” added Toni Pérez.
The title of the exhibition, 'This is the new Benidorm', pays homage to the booklet. This is how Benidorm will be, which in 1955 presented the first General Urban Planning Plan to the public. “The exhibition, like Benidorm's Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development strategy, is a reflection on what we want for the future of the city,” explained the mayor. "We have an important legacy of urban planning that has allowed us to move towards sustainability that today identifies us as a sustainable tourist destination worldwide that we must claim."
Pérez has assured that these European funds "are the most important in our history" and that is why he has thanked the effort "of the municipal corporation that saw the possibility of making a new Benidorm and for the neighbours, who also participated in it". With this exhibition, the mayor said, “it is about publicizing the EDUSI projects to spread the participation of Europe. That is the message that we must incorporate and convey to citizens because it is an integrating project that leaves no one behind”.
Actions such as the future Shelter and Interpretation Center of Séquia Mare or the cultural complex of Plaza de Toros are clear examples of how this urban regeneration highlights the roots of Benidorm. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to discover these improvement actions that will change the services and leisure of the city until May 18 at SSMM Los Reyes de España square in Benidorm.
Some EDUSI projects "are already a reality, others are about to end and others are in the bidding phase". In total there are 10 million euros of European funds, to which are added 13 contributed from municipal resources "but they will reach 32 million."
Thus, this exhibition "speaks of the most tangible achievements and mobility, sustainability and social care after having made an exhaustive analysis of the condition of the residents of Benidorm to improve their quality of life". In this sense, Toni Pérez has stressed, "our clear commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda to achieve a better Benidorm, which is the one that the neighbours deserve and with which we have dreamed".
The EDUSI, the first mayor continued, also allows us "to preserve our history and heritage with Séquia Mare park, which has to do with the soul of our city". In short, he has remarked, “it is putting money at the service of citizens”.
During the inauguration, the mayor Toni Pérez also called two school competitions to celebrate the European values that are claimed today. "Let's paint the Europe we want" is a drawing contest where students in the first cycle of primary school must draw a collaborative mural about the Europe they imagine. The second contest, "What is Europe for you?" is a narrative contest for the second cycle of primary school where children must write a joint essay on the relationship between Europe and Benidorm. The registration period for teachers and managers of schools in Benidorm begins today through the email edusibenidorm1@gmail.com
The inauguration of the exhibition 'This is the new Benidorm' is celebrated within the framework of Europe Day, on the 72nd anniversary of the historic Schumann Declaration that gave rise to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the current European Union.
ABOUT THE EDUSI OF BENIDORM:
The Pluriregional Operational Program of Spain 2014-2020, and the Operational Program for Sustainable Growth (POCS) promote the DUSI strategy, for Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development, of which Benidorm, as established in the Resolution of May 4, 2018, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of the Order of the Third Call HFP/888/2017, has managed to opt for and obtain financing from the FEDER aid of 10 Million Euros, through its EDUSI BENIDORM strategy.
The EDUSI BENIDORM is made up of a series of thematic, specific, strategic and operational objectives, encompassed through 13 Lines of Action, whose social, environmental, economic and urban impact on the city aims to transform a delimited urban area of the city into the to intervene and regenerate comprehensively, for the sake of producing an impact and global improvement in the city.
