"The Canary Islands and Lanzarote are at a crossroads. The tourism model is bursting at the seams and exceeding limits," begins the presentation of the study Territory, Mobility and Roads. A new perspective for Lanzarote, prepared at the request of the César Manrique Foundation by the geographer, mathematician, and urban planner Alfonso Sanz Aldúan, which was presented last Thursday in the José Saramago Hall.
To analyze the mobility challenges facing Lanzarote, the urban planner explains that it is essential to talk about its main economic engine: the tourism model. "Displacements are not an end in themselves, but an activity derived from the set of needs that constitute our way of life," the document states, which in its synthesized 28-page version invites us to rethink the future of the island.
On the occasion of his presentation, Alfonso Sanz has received La Voz to talk about the main premises of the study. "Before thinking about roads, you have to think about the territory, think about the tourism model, the social model, the production and consumption model. Then, think about mobility and finally think about roads, but not do it the other way around, which is what is being observed in Lanzarote," he emphasizes. For example, he explains that the new projects planned on the island "continue to be proposed without considering the maximum load capacity of the territory, without considering the limits of growth in the use of the automobile, without assessing alternatives, without respecting landscape values, and without adjusting speed parameters."
Sanz explains that the tourism model "is decisive" in understanding the dependence on private vehicles on the island. "An excessively large part of tourist trips are made in rental cars, which saturates some spaces and tourist destinations in general," he continues.
In addition, he explains that "it is not possible to disconnect the mobility" of foreigners and residents, since "visitors and goods that arrive on the island end up being incorporated into the previous flows." Therefore, he emphasizes that "any mobility scenario must start from certain tourist thresholds" and invites to "limit the tourist carrying capacity", depending on the "social, environmental, and economic factors."
The study warns that "as long as the transformation of the tourism sector is not addressed," the "environmental and climate commitments cannot be met." Thus, he adds that the continuous road projects announced on the island, "with questionable criteria due to their territorial impact," paradoxically contradict "the tourism model itself" and also "its connection with the appreciation of a unique landscape."
The value of collective transport
Although political management makes mobility and road construction seem synonymous, the concept goes much further than car transport, and there are various factors that influence the way citizens travel. Among the measures proposed by the urban planner is to "allocate the investment planned for the road system to strengthen public transport" and thereby improve frequencies and fares.
At this point, he advocates "dignifying" and improving the quality of urban and interurban buses that connect the island, which have "ample room for improvement." In addition, "decent and powerful public transport axes" can accommodate the resident population, their needs, and also tourists.
At the same time as he defends his commitment to collective transport, Sanz points out the need to promote active mobility. "That you can walk through the cities, through the urban centers," he points out.
In addition to the tourism sector, the local population is also highly dependent on private cars. Such is the case that, with data from 2014, 64.8% of residents in Lanzarote traveled by car, motorcycle, or taxi, and only 13.1% did so by public transport. The figures become even more pressing when Arrecife is removed from the map. Without the capital, 70.4% of trips on the island are by road.
Sanz explains that: "Thinking of roads as if there were no limits to tourist growth or territorial dispersion is proof of a blindness to the future, an irresponsible position of governments and, also, of some social agents who prefer to follow the beaten path rather than face the discomfort of change."
The social and environmental consequences of the mobility model are also reflected in energy consumption, where transport plays a crucial role: it accounts for three-quarters of the total. At this point, air travel (31%) and road travel (36%) take the largest share.
However, the geographer explains that although "in part, Manrique's perspective of infrastructures very adapted to the territory has already been lost, we are still in time to prevent further deterioration of the territory, the landscape, and the road from overriding the territory."
The future of mobility on the island
Although Sanz highlights the importance of marking the future of the tourism model on the island, he argues that while it is being tackled, a new mobility model must be sought that responds to European, Spanish, and Canarian guidelines and promotes the "renaturalization" of cities. To do this, it must take into account the commitments to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
For example, he marks as indispensable the creation of low-emission zones in Arrecife to decarbonize and reduce both air and noise pollution. In addition to facilitating the change of means of transport; promoting equity in travel, that is, that there is no discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, or income; reducing dependence on the automobile and recovering public spaces to be used for walks, spaces for bicycles, or coexistence.
Despite the challenges facing the future of the island, the expert sends an optimistic message and assures that "Lanzarote has enormous opportunities to improve its conditions of walkability, habitability, and use of public transport. It would be a shame if they were lost in the coming years."
