Strategic plan for the regeneration of Playa de Palma
Renaturalization and adaptation to climate change
The Strategic Regeneration Plan for Playa de Palma is developed within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – Next Generation EU as an exemplary and replicable initiative in the Mediterranean context of strategic planning applied to a mature coastal tourist destination. The plan addresses the modernization of the seafront through a systemic and territorial approach, integrating historical knowledge, ecological diagnosis, and future climate change scenarios, with the aim of restoring its metabolic functionality, increasing urban resilience, and tangibly improving the quality of life and health of both residents and visitors.
The intervention area shows high exposure to climate impacts: increased risk of permanent and storm-induced flooding, coastal erosion and beach tilting, saltwater intrusion, alterations to the water table, and the progressive degradation of wetlands. Likewise, sectors of the urban fabric linked to the Sant Jordi irrigation channel and the Ses Fontanelles system display particular vulnerability to urban flooding. In response to this scenario, the plan defines an operational roadmap for the reurbanization and renaturalization of 38.9 hectares of coastal public space, with an estimated investment of €118 million, aligned with the Spanish Urban Agenda and Palma’s PG’23, ensuring regulatory coherence, technical feasibility, and implementation capacity.
The territorial strategy is structured around a hierarchical network of spaces and axes: the coastal pedestrian promenade, an inner transitional urban–rural landscape path, and a series of transversal corridors connecting the sea with the inland Pla de Sant Jordi. These elements—defined as environmental corridors and civic axes—together with associated open spaces, enable the restoration of ecological continuity, improved accessibility, and the articulation of a new centrality of public space as a framework for coexistence, urban health, and social cohesion.
The plan introduces an innovative approach based on activating the territory’s so-called “biological fullness,” understanding undeveloped spaces as essential infrastructure for ecological, hydrological, and social processes. The proposal articulates an integrated green, blue, and grey infrastructure grounded in nature-based solutions and sustainable urban drainage systems, aimed at retaining, infiltrating, and reusing water, protecting aquifers, and reducing flood risk, while simultaneously improving climatic comfort and the habitability of public space.
The design is specified through seven interrelated areas of action: ecological restoration of the Ses Fontanelles dune system; the Neopatria landscape corridor; revitalization of the Les Meravelles promenade; reconnection of the dune system and coastal pine forest through the Trobadors axis; climate-adapted reurbanization of the Amílcar civic axis; consolidation of an urban–rural edge landscape path; and regeneration of the seafront promenade as a continuous coastal linear park. This system redefines the seafront as a permeable, inclusive, and accessible public infrastructure capable of absorbing complex environmental dynamics and reinforcing territorial identity.
The plan establishes advanced criteria for climate-responsive design and materiality derived from a comprehensive analysis of local conditions: wind regimes, solar exposure, precipitation, geotechnics, urban morphology, and resource availability. A global balance of 50% between permeable and impermeable surfaces is prioritized, along with the use of low water-demand adapted vegetation and durable, recyclable, low-embodied-energy materials, preferably locally sourced. Vegetation is conceived as public health infrastructure—regulating the microclimate, acting as a CO₂ sink, and supporting collective well-being.
Future implementation is organized through a system of phases and priorities that allows execution compatible with tourism seasonality, ensuring a gradual transition without compromising the destination’s economic activity. The result is an exemplary and replicable model of resilient coastal regeneration that integrates environmental sustainability, positive social impact, and urban innovation, placing people and landscape at the center of contemporary strategic planning.