Planning and urban growth. What to do with urbanized vacant areas in the land of Valencia?

In 1996, an expanding real estate property cycle of unusual magnitudes began in the Kingdom of Spain, to abruptly cease in 2007. Its economic, social and political logic has been to this day widely studied, but instead the contribution of urban planning as a driver and impeller of proposals of unviable urban overgrowth has received scant attention. In this paper, we shall consider the role played by urban planning with disparate proposals in the so-called construction bubble. By studying relevant case studies, we will evidence the impact that of over planning has had on the environment and natural resources. In 1994, it was approved for the Community of Valencia, a ground-breaking law, that allowed real estate agents to develop areas in which they had not any property even against the opinion and the will of the landowners. The facilities given to developers, in a context of abuse and corruption, have taken their toll after the bursting of the housing bubble. Our goal is to analyse the effects and consequences of these actions: the destruction of the landscape, the consumption of natural resources beyond their capacity for regeneration, the development of areas that today remain vacant, with special emphasis on the latter. © 2016 WIT Press.