Each of us has in mind the model of place in which we want to live. We all aspire to share decent spaces to live, healthy, safe and prosperous, and that offer opportunities to develop the vital project of our cohabitants.
The increase in inequalities and poverty, the globalized economy, climate change, population aging, the concentration of the population in urban environments, relations with metropolitan municipalities or air pollution..., are some of the challenges that municipalities must face in the 21st century.
We have to commit ourselves to configure a model of a fair city, capable of functioning effectively and sustainably, and of adapting, by its own capacity, to the changes that the planet is going to experience in the coming years.
Health will operate as a transversal element of all municipal policies. The quality of the air, the municipal facilities for sports, the green spaces, the municipal centers for the realization of physical and mental activities of the elderly, the promotion of health by encouraging healthy consumption habits, including eating habits..., seeking prevention as a key tool for the promotion of health, will prolong the full and independent life of citizens.
Attention to children, youth and the elderly, as especially vulnerable groups, should be a priority. The initial way to strengthen the equity of the educational system is through Early Childhood Education, promoting the offer of early childhood education 0-3 years and the reduction of prices, and even free for families with lower incomes, moving towards a universal and free model. With respect to our elders, home help services, telecare, accompaniment..., should be promoted, with the aim of preserving the autonomy of all of them and the prolongation of life, improving and extending the Home Help Service.
Culture is a crucial vector in the construction of shared and inclusive identities, essential in the complex 21st century. We need culture for the full development of the person and as a driving force for the change of model of economic prosperity; in short, culture understood as a citizen's right and, at the same time, as a collective resource of enormous potential for economic development and job creation.
The defense of equal treatment and non-discrimination of all citizens should be promoted, from an approach of tolerance and inclusion that requires public action to guarantee respect for diversity and effective integration.
If we long for a model of the city of the future that we have not yet created, our thinking must be long-term. Everything mentioned above is not achieved in the short term. The height of views must be in the minds of all of us.
Nauzet A. Duque Torres, Administrator-Manager of PSOE Lanzarote.