Santa Cruz brings together over 80 stakeholders to help shape the city of the future

The first deputy mayor and head of the Strategic Planning area, Carlos Tarife, emphasized the relevance of the forum as a starting point for sustainable planning. "This forum seeks a collective commitment, where each social, economic and citizen actor has an essential role. Through collaboration, we can build a city that is not only competitive, but also ready to face the challenges of the future," said Tarife, who also announced that "another meeting will likely take place in the coming months to keep moving forward in this direction".

For his part, the founder and president of Fundación Metrópoli, Alfonso Vegara, emphasized the importance of this participatory process for the development of the city. "It is a privilege to work hand in hand with the Santa Cruz City Council and Fundación Moeve in the construction of a city project that will transform the city into a benchmark for sustainability, competitiveness and innovation," stated Vergara.

Work mode

Fundación Metrópoli uses a methodology that accurately and rigorously identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as challenges of the territory through a comprehensive assessment based on data and specific indicators of the territory. For this purpose, a detailed analysis is carried out using tools such as key territorial indicators, advanced critical mapping and comparative studies of reference with relevant national and international cases.

Territorial indicators offer a detailed snapshot of urban, economic, social, and environmental dynamics, enabling a deeper understanding of the territory’s current state. This analysis is further enriched by critical cartography, which uses specialized visual tools to clearly illustrate key urban and territorial phenomena.

In addition, the inclusion of national and international case studies provides a valuable comparative perspective, allowing us to learn from successful experiences in similar contexts and identify best practices and innovative solutions that can be applied to the territory in focus. Together, these elements form a strong, data-driven foundation for making strategic decisions in future urban and territorial planning processes.

Once an initial technical assessment of the city is in place—drawing on all the elements mentioned above—citizen participation becomes essential. This has led to the First City Forum, held on Wednesday, where a comprehensive questionnaire with over 180 questions was distributed, designed to gather insights, perceptions and points of view from a wide range of institutions, organizations and members of the public. Each attendee received this tool, developed from in-depth preliminary research, with the aim of creating a perceived diagnosis of the challenges and opportunities facing Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The results of this questionnaire will help map out major challenges, identify agreements, contentious issues, new demands and the perception of problems by the participants. All data collected will be processed digitally to produce a summary report of the participatory process, making it easier to identify which topics generate agreement, which spark debate and which are seen as absolutely crucial for the city’s future. The ultimate aim is to define specific projects that will bring this future city model to life.

It is worth noting, therefore, that this participatory approach is essential to ensuring that the resulting projects truly reflect the needs and expectations of the various stakeholders involved, consequently laying a strong foundation for the city’s development.

The First City of Santa Cruz Forum marks the beginning of a participatory process that, in the coming months, will help shape a city model aligned with the objectives of sustainability, innovation and competitiveness. By the same token, this process will serve as a foundation for updating both the Santa Cruz Strategic Plan and the Santa Cruz Verde 2030 project.

With the support of Fundación Metrópoli and Fundación Moeve, the outcomes of this process are expected to guide efforts to improve quality of life, create jobs, and position Santa Cruz as an international reference for smart, sustainable cities.