Santander looks to its countryside

Agricultural and livestock production in Santander: testimonial but key to the municipality’s future.

According to the 2020 Agricultural Census, Santander has just 45 livestock and crop farms, accounting for a mere 0.6% of the total in Cantabria. The presence of rural production in the municipality is therefore very limited, although it retains a predominantly livestock-farming use combined with agricultural plots in the characteristic rolling countryside.

Paradoxically, this small sector could become a key to the future. The northern villages of the municipality are emerging as carbon sinks, local agricultural production areas, and biodiversity reserves. Furthermore, their role as a “cold storage for the indigenous” can be fundamental in the current context of climate change and ecological transition.

The innovative “Santander, Future Habitat” City Model already recognized this potential. In it, agricultural production occupied a prominent place in the municipality’s development, both for its economic value and for its capacity to absorb carbon and generate high-quality, locally sourced food, thereby contributing to its own viability.

This City Model was the result of a citizen participation process carried out in 2020 and the work of two drafting teams: Landlab, led by architect and landscape architect Miriam García, and Paisaje Transversal. From that joint effort emerged the “score” for the future, poised to materialize in the next General Urban Development Plan (PGOU).

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