Andorra Proposes Urban Reforms for Concentric, Sustainable Growth

The Andorran government has proposed reforms to the General Law on Territorial Planning and Urbanism (LGOTU) to foster a concentric urban model, permitting greater building density and height in established village cores while enforcing progressive restrictions on size, volume, and minimum plot sizes in peripheral areas. This approach aims to deliver ordered, sustainable growth over the next 15-20 years, guided by parish-specific maximum carrying capacity studies due in early 2026.

Territory and Urbanism Minister Raül Ferré, joined by Environment, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Guillem Casal and Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Mònica Bonell, presented the proposals in their final session before the General Council's study commission on Monday. Ferré outlined five zoning categories—casc antic, zona urbana, eixample urbà, zona residencial, and zona suburbana i protegida—calibrated to each parish's settlements and capacity limits. Development intensity would decrease with distance from serviced centres, safeguarding biodiversity, ecological corridors, and natural topography. Parishes could introduce temporary volume quotas, akin to La Massana's existing system, during high-pressure periods.

The ministers endorsed a collaborative National Strategic Plan for Territorial Planning and Urban Growth with parishes to align infrastructure, housing, services, and natural areas. Drawing on capacity studies, it would undergo intermediate reviews every three to five years and full revisions every eight to ten, responding to demographic, economic, and climate changes.

Notable reforms include replacing "unconsolidated urban land" with "urban land of maximum protection," which would prohibit most construction except limited uses such as mountain refuges. Further measures involve reserving space for public and parish facilities, streamlining urban land contributions, incorporating affordable rentals into national-interest projects, and regulating remote developments with low density and essential services to minimise environmental harm.

Casal warned of agricultural pressures, including shrinking tobacco fields, falling hay meadow areas, and rising peixeders—steep natural pastures that hinder mechanisation—exacerbating declines in livestock numbers and local meat output. He urged designating farmland as developable yet protected to sustain it as viable farmer assets, alongside a water law aligned with EU standards, slated for the first half of 2026, and a national natural park with Ordino and Canillo parishes next year.

Bonell emphasised heritage safeguards, with only 19 of 71 required monuments currently having approved plans. She proposed tools like special protection plans, historic ensembles, ethnological zones, cultural routes, and landscape integration studies for projects near protected sites, informed by a forthcoming patrimony law entering parliamentary process in the first half of 2026 to enhance collaboration, accessibility, participatory management, and fiscal incentives.

Ferré stressed preserving private land values while ensuring balanced growth across parishes to address social, economic, and environmental demands. The commission now has until late January to deliver its findings, which could lead to a dedicated drafting group.