Territorial Context

Abstract

The Sierra Calderona Strategic Plan aims to integrate environmental, cultural, social, economic and urban planning criteria, as well as to guide decision-making and local planning. The Plan was informed and driven by social, cultural, sustainability and economic factors and was supported by a participative process. This chapter gathers and displays the existing territorial information of the south-central area of Sierra Calderona. This information was used to generate new specific cartographies for the Strategic Territorial Plan. The Sierra Calderona Strategic Plan was developed during the years 2013–2014 in five municipalities (Serra, Náquera, Olocau, Marines y Gátova), located at the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Valencia. The Strategic Plan covers a surface of 200 km² with a significant portion included in the Sierra Calderona Natural Park and its buffer area. Due to its proximity to the metropolitan area of Valencia (1.5 million inhabitants) and to its natural, cultural and recreational values, the area is exposed to a strong pressure for transformation and public use. Interestingly, the Sierra Calderona displays most of the challenges and potentials affecting other areas located at the limits of urban agglomerations, giving to the whole work and to the proposed solutions a general interest.