The future of Cerdanyola del Vallès depends, yes or yes, on the Center Direccional project, the large neighborhood where the city can expand, limited by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Parc de l’Alba –where the Synchrotron and several companies–, the A-7, the Plana del Castell and the Vía Verde that connects with the Collserola natural park. This work, inevitably, is one of the star topics of the electoral debate these days when the candidates define the city model they want: what will its urban, economic, environmental, mobility or waste management impact be like?

In 2021, the Incasòl presented a design that seems definitive: 5,700 new homes, half of them officially protected, designed for 15,000 residents on an area of ​​408 hectares (73% public land). Half will go to urban green areas and will involve a public investment of 450 million euros over 15 years.

The current mayor, Carlos Cordón (PSC), who won the 2019 elections, considers the Directorate “a strategic jewel and an opportunity for the country” with 140 hectares of industrial land and economic activity. Against, parties such as ERC, En Comú Podem and Guanyem Cerdanyola, in addition to environmental groups, who fear “massive and disproportionate urban growth” of the municipality and consequences for health, given that the Directional sits on land formerly contaminated by the landfill. of Can Planas.

In this city with a socialist tradition and with almost 60,000 residents, the next mandate is expected to be complex. Together with the Directorate, the future government will face the redevelopment of Santa Teresa street -after the demolition of the cinemas-, the implementation of the low emission zone, the management of the climate emergency (the Sec and Collserola rivers), the application of the Local Housing Plan, improvements in municipal markets or the construction of the pavilion and new indoor pool in the Riu-Sec sports area, among others. To attend to so many fronts, in Cerdanyola there are 13 candidacies willing to give their all, but with an evident struggle between the PSC (nine mayors in 2019) and ERC (five), with Albert Turon at the helm and replacing the candidate of the last three elections, Helena Solà.