POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS DE PLANIFICACIÓN TERRITORIAL EN LA COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA. LUCES Y SOMBRAS.

Spatial planning is a public policy that aims to improve the quality of life of citizens through the development of a territorial model in the geographical space to act. Four decades after the approval of the first Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, it is possible to carry out a critical analysis of the public policies in spatial planning developed in this period. In these decades, regulations, guiding principles, procedures and work methods in spatial planning have changed, with a definitive commitment to sustainability since the beginning of this century. All this in relation to the proposals of the European Spatial Planning Strategy and the European Landscape Convention, as basic documents of territorial planning in this geographical space. The balance of spatial planning in the C. Valenciana offers lights and shadows that must be taken as lessons for the future practice of territorial planning. The geographical discipline has played an important role in the process of implementing territorial policies in the Valencian region, participating in the elaboration of plans on a regional or subregional scale, incorporating tools, working methods and proposals in the search for a territorial balance, difficult to achieve in an area with little culture of the territory. Finally, the paper presents a series of proposals for future spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]