2023-06-21 14:40:54
Malaga has been left without its International Exposition 2027. The Andalusian city was one of the two finalists in the vote held this Tuesday at the headquarters of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris, but in the end most of the votes of the 179 member countries of the international organization have been to Belgrade (Serbia). The candidacy, presented by the mayor of the city, Francisco de la Torre, in 2019, has focused a large part of the municipal efforts since then and has received the support of the Junta de Andalucía and the central government. It was the icing on the cake dreamed of by the councilor for his city project, but as has already happened in recent years with the 2024 Copa América de Vela and the awards for European Capital of Innovation, in the end the capital of Malaga has not been chosen. “Now we have a plan B,” De la Torre said minutes after learning of the assembly’s decision.
The urban age: towards a sustainable city was the motto under which Malaga presented its candidacy, which was competing against those of Bloomington (United States), Phuket (Thailand), Belgrade (Serbia) and San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina). The international exhibition was presented in May 2019 during the municipal election campaign. The idea started after analyzing the data on the movement from rural to urban areas in a large part of the planet, which “generates a sustainability problem”, as De la Torre explained to EL PAÍS. Two years later, he received the support of the Junta de Andalucía and the central government, as Pedro Sánchez himself communicated by letter to the Malaga councilor. This has been one of the rarities of the initiative, the common impulse on the part of all the institutions, one of the aspects that have been highlighted during the presentation this morning in Paris, which has also been followed from some tents set up by the municipality in the historic center, next to the Roman theater.
Last year the city was on the brink of celebrating the 2024 Sailing America Cup —which Barcelona will finally host— and, although it was a finalist in the European Capital of Innovation awards, the award finally went to Dortmund (Germany). These are the last two troubles for a capital that wants to aspire to everything and that big international events resist. Now he will have to see how Serbia —by just 11 votes difference, 81 to 70— and with the motto Let’s play for humanity: Sport and Music for all will organize the 2027 International Exhibition with which Malaga aspired to round off its current positive dynamics as tourist, cultural and technological city.
Malaga delegation in Paris
A large delegation from Malaga has traveled to the EIB headquarters in the French capital, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Manuel Moreno Bonilla. The journalist María Casado has been in charge of directing the 20 minutes that the city had to defend her candidacy. In it, different voices have presented the pillars of the project to convince the participating countries that their vote should go to Malaga. “We have a great shared dream”, said Moreno Bonilla, who stressed that Malaga could offer “the best possible response to the critical moment in which humanity finds itself”. “Cities are growing at very fast rates and there are challenges of social, environmental and economic sustainability. We want to be useful in that response”, stressed the mayor of Malaga, who also emphasized that the buildings that make up Expo 2027 will become centers of education, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has highlighted the video participation of Pau Gasol, Sergio Ramos and Paz Vega. And the closure has been provided by the musical performance of Luz Casal.
The development of the Malaga project was planned in what is now vacant land near the Campanillas neighborhood. It is an area to the north of the capital, one step away from the airport, the Andalusia Technology Park and the University of Malaga. In the more than 700,000 square meters that a large area had been drawn for the pavilions, as well as green, leisure and restaurant areas, as well as some 1,500 rental homes first intended for the workers in the sample. Its cost was going to be around 800 million euros. According to a study by Andalusian Economic Analysts, its impact would have been around 2,900 million euros for the city and would have allowed the creation of 31,000 jobs. More than 11 million visits were expected from 4.6 million people.
The objective was to create “a proposal for reflection on one of the main challenges facing contemporary society in the medium and long term: making demographic growth and urban development compatible with protecting the environment and adopting solutions innovative solutions that guarantee an improvement in the quality of life of city residents”. That space is the one that De la Torre now intends to carry out “with or without an expo.” “We have a great city and it is a project that must be carried out,” he said minutes after learning the result of the vote.
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