Various assessments of the so-called ecocity of Sarriguren are being publicly demonstrated for being under construction on the last site of the second phase, when 18 years have passed since the residence of the first homes.

From the perspective of belonging to the current corporation, we want to make an assessment of what was once described as: “One of the largest activities of the Government of Navarra”, “urban development model”, “a pilot and innovative project that highlights the commitment of our Foral Community as a Territory of Environmental Excellence” (José Carlos Esparza Sáez, Councilor for Housing and Spatial Planning between 2007 and 2011, in the publication “Sarriguren Ecocity Ecocity” 2009).

And the first thing we have to say is that the reality of what has been achieved is far from those rapporteur ratings.

To analyze the city as an ecosystem, we must look at the contribution of internal functioning solutions, especially in the problems of urban unsustainability: traffic, noise, clean mobility, safe circuits, the use of renewable energy sources, recycling, collective services, the right to decent housing... And from this point of view, the ecocity of Sarriguren has been and is a failure.

If we were to evaluate in depth the four parameters that determine the cycles of the urban ecosystem – atmospheric cycle, hydrological cycle, organic matter cycle and waste, and energy cycle – we would see how far it is from being a model of sustainable urban development in Sarriguren.

We are not going to start developing each of these paragraphs, because I would give it for a book. In other words, assuming that at the origin an eco-sustainable vision was achieved, even at the lowest level, the most important and fundamental is the continuous evaluation of its state and the most important of its evolution to obtain an X-ray that allows us to know if they move away or approach sustainability objectives. And we can clearly say that this evaluation has never been done.

The key to the existence of an ecocity is not that the buildings are efficient or that the density of housing per hectare is low, but that there is continuous eco-sustainable management. And that is not in the management of the Egüés Valley City Hall, because the current government team does not have an urban sustainability plan and, therefore, there is no evaluation of it.

In order to know the trajectory of these 18 years, one should listen to the platform of people affected by mortgages and struggles against rented and abused companies. To the association of Urbi neighbours and to mobilizations for adequate health services. Citizen movements in favour of decent housing, collective, social, cultural and educational infrastructures. Women for a safe city, etc.

Citizen mobilizations before a municipality: where the business represents the right to housing, where it is evident that sustainable management does not exist, where there is no public initiative for the constitution of energy communities, where the use of the private vehicle remains a priority, where in winter there is energy poverty that prevents heating from happening, where the connectivity problems of the vehicles remain unsolved…

Another element that nobody mentions when talking about Sarriguren is that it is part of a city council made up of other peoples. A municipal compound, having the same municipal management, needs bonds of coexistence between different locations. Sarriguren has 16,000 inhabitants and the Valley of Egüés, 22,000; other municipalities have about 50 inhabitants. No one mentions the imbalance generated by a population of 16,000 inhabitants in the management of a municipality.

This imbalance can only be alleviated by working properly with local councils. And that is another issue that stands out for not being in municipal management. The councils of the Egüés Valley are excluded by the current municipal government team.

Here's an example of these moments. The Council of Olaz has for years suggested the need to sort out the Altxutxate road. This street is dirt and people who pay taxes live in it. Well, with a departure in the municipal budgets for Olatz, the government team prefers to spend on paving a parking lot for sports than a street unused for the neighbors in winter. The Council's requests are ignored, giving priority to a work that no one demands. This encourages the use of the private vehicle to go to the sports club.

A final mention of the book published by the Government of Navarra in 2009 with the approval of the Ecociudad Plan. It is 175 pages in color, in cardboard, bilingual (Spanish and English), in which the second official language of Navarra has a single word in Sarriguren. Thus, in contempt of the Basque Country, no inhabitable or social city can be built for all people.

Councillors of EH Bildu in the Egüés Valley: Ainara Gonzalez Hervas, Asier Mesanza Moraza, Izaskun Juarez Goñi and Ricardo Laspidea Arnedo.