280 The Barcelona Region’s land mosaic
project threatening the Vic Valley resources; and (5) people intrigued by the
agriculture--nature park concept but not fully understanding it.
The water portion of the plan has mainly generated interest relative to water
quantity and water quality: (1) a proposal to transfer water to the region from the
L’Ebro River Basin to the west has apparently died; (2) a water expert has identi-
fied more than a dozen feasible cost-effective ways to increase clean water in the
region; and (3) a few of the ways involve cleaning up some of the widespread
dirty surface water in streams, rivers, and reservoirs.
The built area and systems portion of the plan also relates to several
developments: (1) the high-speed Madrid--Barcelona--France train may have sta-
tions at Vilafranca and the Barcelona airport, both locations being of exception-
ally high natural-systems value; (2) the value of focusing growth on a hand-
ful of satellite cities, rather than further expansion of Barcelona, has been
recognized; (3) transportation, especially rail lines, among the proposed-growth
satellite cities is important; (4) at least one key mayor expressed support for
thegreen-net concept; (5) Vic as a proposed satellite city will grow, perhaps too
much, with completion of an east--west highway; and (6) eventually moving part
of the Maresma rail line away from the coast makes good sense.Some broader messages
Finally, some broader messages from the planning project have emerged
in the past two years:(A) Nomovement toward implementing the plan as a whole, or establishing
atrajectory for it, is presently detectable.
(B) ABarcelona colleague recently quoted a phrase, ‘‘La Caixa runs every-
thing,” to me, apparently meaning that money or economics mainly
determines what happens. Another colleague mentioned a big deci-
sion made by five political leaders in a room together who supposedly
ignored all plans, apparently suggesting that actions are mainly deter-
mined by politics.
(C) Arecent economic and construction boom lends urgency to several parts
of the plan, especially the resources and opportunities that are moving
toward a threshold of being no longer possible.
(D) Separate planning for different sectors continues, both in partial isola-
tion and partial competition, in contrast to land planning where pieces
serve multiple uses and fit together into a lucid logical whole.
(E) The plan, I was told, surprised everyone because of its comprehensive-
ness, its potentially implementable pieces, its emphasis on a functioning
Greater Barcelona Region, and its compelling portrayal of the region’s