Far away from the cranes

In its fortunate and necessary return to activity, Terraferida has launched the campaign ‘Foravila fora grues’ (Out of town, no cranes), which proposes a response to the phenomenon of indiscriminate urbanization of rural land in Mallorca. You can read, incidentally, here at ARA Balears, an excellent opinion piece by Sebastià Portell on this issue: 'Many little houses make a little hell' it is titled, with apt irony. Portell mentions it, but it should be emphasized that in recent years (especially since the pandemic) we are no longer talking only about little houses for weekend getaways or stays, but about large chalets and luxury homes with swimming pools, lawn extensions, and even their own roundabout, all built on what were once cultivated fields or forest areas. Very often the money is German, or Swedish, or British, or Russian: curiously, those who say that Mallorca has too many people, these do not bother them at all and they only feel cramped in the presence of immigrants. They reject the poor because they say they are illegal; on the other hand, the rich who build houses – these indeed – illegal, they welcome them most enthusiastically.The wild multiplication of constructions in the outskirts ends up generating small – and not so small – illegal developments, with all the problems this generates. True damage to the environment, including loss of agricultural and forest land, loss of food sovereignty (we have to buy food from outside because we have destroyed the farmers and livestock breeders and we do not produce enough), more cars, pollution and saturation also in the outskirts, and destruction of the territory, with fatal consequences for many animal and plant species. Also social problems, such as the increase – even more – in the cost of housing and municipal services, which, on the other hand, are often insufficient. And the destruction of farming, a phenomenon that can only be described as self-destructive. And the increase in social inequalities, between wealthy owners who can afford to buy or have houses built wherever they please, and a large mass of the population who cannot even dream of affording to own or rent a home. And the degradation of municipalities, and of the island as a whole, to serve as mere backdrops for the fantasy home that a completely uprooted millionaire has decided to build for himself "in the Mediterranean", which for them is an image they have seen in films and decoration magazines.To avoid all this mess (which is already alarming, but not yet irreversible) Terraferida points out a realistic, pragmatic, non-anti-system solution that is in our hands. It does not depend on Madrid, nor even on the Balearic Government, but on the Consell de Mallorca. It is about removing from the Territorial Plan of Majorca (PTIM), the famous rule of two quarterades, or 14,000 m2, which are required to build a dwelling in a rural area, and which has given rise to all sorts of plays and gambits to achieve summing up square meters (it has even given rise to an endemic species of speculator, called ‘aplegacortons’). In a place as exotic as Menorca, this rule does not exist, and this has made it possible to preserve the countryside, and its uses, much better than has been done in Mallorca and Ibiza. It is time to also move towards a new type of urban planning, as is already being considered in European countries such as France: to build nothing in rural areas, but to concentrate on the construction and rehabilitation of buildings in urban areas. If you wish to join the campaign, you can sign the manifesto at terraferida.cat. And we are all called to a great (very great) demonstration with this same slogan, ‘Foravila fora grues’, on July 26th in Palma. It is necessary and urgent.