“Vila-seca Creativa: art and culture for a new centrality” seeks to transform the historic center and the first expansion through a new urban, social and cultural centrality
The candidacy will operate, among others, in six local facilities, will incorporate nearly 4.800 m² of usable space and will allocate 68,16% of the investment to socio-community actions.
The Vila-seca City Council presented today at a press conference “Vila-seca Creativa: art and culture for a new centrality”, its candidacy for the 2026 call for the Neighbourhoods and Towns Plan of Catalonia 2025-2029. The project plans to mobilize 25 million euros and deploy 29 actions to transform the historic center and the first expansion, reinforce its centrality and improve the quality of life of the people who live there.
The proposal combines urban transformation, ecological transition and socio-community action with the same purpose: recover vitality, services, activity and opportunities in a strategic area for the municipality as a whole.
Of the 25 million euros planned, the City Council is requesting a contribution of 15 million to the Generalitat de Catalunya and assumes the commitment to mobilize the remaining financing with municipal resources and other complementary sources.
The press conference, held at Vila-seca Castle, was attended by the spokespersons of the municipal groups of the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC), Vila-seca en Comú (VSC) and Decidim Vila-seca (DV), along with the mayor of Vila-seca, Pere Segura.
The mayor highlighted that "Vila-seca has grown and expanded outwards and now we propose to strengthen its heart: recovering centrality, services, activity and quality of life to rebalance the entire municipality.”. For their part, municipal spokespeople have highlighted the importance of this project that places culture as a tool for transformation.
Joan A. Ramirez, PSC councilor, pointed out that it is a proposal based on shared objectives and expressed the support of his group, highlighting the importance of working together for the future of the municipality. For his part, Francesc Benaiges, from Vila-seca en Comú, has given a very positive assessment of the initiative and has expressed his willingness to continue collaborating with the government team. Finally, Josep Foraste, from Decidim Vila-seca, noted that the project includes widely shared and demanded measures, and highlighted the work carried out in the spaces of political consensus to promote transversal proposals that contribute to the transformation of the municipality.
In conclusion, the mayor also wanted to thank the generosity and willingness to collaborate of all political parties when it comes to jointly promoting strategic projects for the future of the municipality.
A municipal project built with citizens
“Vila-seca Creativa” is conceived as a municipal project, with a broad political base and a vocation for continuity beyond a mandate. The proposal also incorporates citizen participation as a way of defining, prioritizing and deploying actions.
As is already being done in the process of drafting the new POUM, the City Council considers that the great transformations that will mark Vila-seca in the coming years must be worked on with residents, entities and social, cultural and economic sectors.
"We don't want to transform the historic center just for the citizens, but to do it with the citizens.", the mayor pointed out. This participation will continue throughout the development and execution of the project.
Rebalancing Vila-seca from the inside
The scope of action concentrates some vulnerabilities that are not always visible. The 76% of homes are built before 1980, almost the 70% of buildings with two or more floors do not have an elevator and the green surface represents only the1%.
The project is not based on the idea of a degraded center, but rather on the need to respond to the progressive loss of centrality and certain urban, residential and social disadvantages.
The purpose is to configure a complementary, stable and active centrality throughout the year: a center where to live, take care of yourself, train, work, create and interactIt is not just about acting on a specific part of Vila-seca, but about strengthening the center so that the entire municipality functions better.
Six devices connected in one single service network
One of the main pieces of “Vila-seca Creativa” is the intervention in six local facilities: the new Library, the Workers' House, the Esplai Sant Esteve, the old library, the Ateneu Pi i Margall and the Celler.
Overall, these actions will incorporate nearly 4.800 m² usable areaThe six spaces are not conceived as independent buildings, but as a single distributed social infrastructure, capable of offering services, activities and opportunities for different needs and stages of life.
Among the most notable performances are:
- the construction of the new Library, with an investment of 6 million euros;
- the rehabilitation of the Ateneu Pi i Margall, with 4,3 million;
- and the green transformation of Avinguda de Francesc Macià, with 2 million euros.
The project also includes actions at the Casa dels Obrers and the Esplai Sant Esteve, housing-related aid, the creation of shared work spaces, the recovery of empty premises, artistic residencies, creative markets and measures to support commerce and economic activity.
Culture as a tool for transformation
Despite its name, “Vila-seca Creativa: art and culture for a new centrality” is not a sectoral cultural project. Culture, art, heritage and creativity are considered as instruments to recover buildings, activate premises, generate economic activity, strengthen identity and create community.
This orientation is reflected in the distribution of investment: the 68,16% will be allocated to socio-community actions related to services, care, youth, training, digital inclusion, health, culture, coexistence and economic opportunities.
Therefore, “Vila-seca Creativa” is not a simple construction plan. The goal is not just to renovate buildings and streets, but to ensure that things happen there again: more local services, more daily activity, more opportunities, more community relations and a greater perception of vitality and security.
With this candidacy, Vila-seca presents to the Generalitat an ambitious, coherent and ready-to-be-executed project, supported by municipal economic commitment, a shared vision and citizen participation. A project that can be summarized in one idea: 25 million to transform the center, but above all to bring it back to life.
