Ana Díaz-Vidal
Author
València, the third-largest city in Spain, has been shaped by both neoliberal expansion and recent green leadership. From decades of development aimed at global visibility, elite profits and growth, hosting Formula 1, and America’s Cup, to more recent efforts under left-leaning party (external link)Compromís (external link) to reclaim space for people through pedestrianization and cycling infrastructure (external link), the city is now aiming to be a green leader, becoming European Green Capital in 2024.
The October 2024 floods exposed the fragility of a neoliberal planning model centered on expansion and growth, with the floods causing major damages in flood-vulnerable areas built during the pre-crisis housing boom. Floods like this will only become more and more frequent in the coming years (external link). In response, a wave of solidarity networks emerged, but institutional reactions lag behind.
València continues to face housing insecurity, overtourism, and ecological risk. Over 25% of residents own second homes (external link) and growing tourist demand reduces housing availability for locals, especially the youth (external link). Furthermore, a 2019 municipal survey (external link) identified economic insecurity and weak social connection as key barriers to happiness. This matters in a collectivist society like València, where festivals, street gatherings, and family networks are vital to wellbeing.These challenges suggest policy is not meeting societal needs. The post-flood moment presents a chance to redefine local progress, while tackling the ecological crisis through housing policy.
A sufficiency approach offers an equity-based alternative deeply aligned with Valencian identity. Defined as a set of policies and practices that avoid unnecessary resource use while delivering wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries (external link), sufficiency centres needs satisfaction over accumulation.
A sufficiency approach suggests setting ecological and social upper limits to housing policy by first, redistributing, rethinking and retrofitting existing buildings making the most of the current housing stock; then regulating short-term rentals and second-home ownership, broadening the homes available for long-term tenancies and lastly, introducing sufficiency criteria in urban planning, making sure all new projects satisfy real needs.
Max-Neef's theory of fundamental human needs (external link) highlights that progress doesn't require endless consumption, but culturally relevant satisfiers. Housing policy is a central domain for applying this logic. A sufficiency-based housing policy would prioritize models that deliver synergistic satisfiers:
- Investing in climate adaptive infrastructure while involving communities
- Supporting cooperative and community-led housing models
- Repurpose underused or damaged urban spaces into "third places"
These reflect long-standing Valencian traditions of neighbourhood solidarity, intergenerational households, and cooperative care, practices that meet multiple needs at once (subsistence, participation, identity, connection). In contrast, second homes and short-term rentals act as pseudo-satisfiers, generating inequality and fragmentation.
The 2024 floods revealed both València's climate vulnerability and the strength and importance of its solidarity networks. The city can respond by enacting policies that meet multiple needs while staying within ecological limits. Rather than prescribing lifestyles, sufficiency reshapes structural conditions, making it easier to live well with less.