What will the beaches of the future be like? More importantly, will there be beaches at all? With these two powerful reflections, the Catalan Infrastructure Advisory Council (CAdIC) wanted to put on the table this Wednesday the "urgent" need to plan the management of sand on the Catalan coast to prevent beaches from disappearing.

The project to regenerate the seabed of the Olympic Port Barcelona is moving in the right direction. This was stated this Tuesday at a press conference by Mayor Jaume Collboni, who reviewed the first year of the implementation of the fifty artificial reefs that were submerged in this area in the spring of 2024. "In just one year, these structures have become a refuge and breeding ground for more than a hundred," the mayor stated. This image contrasts with the seabed in this area forty years ago, when constant industrial waste had turned it into lifeless mud.

Rescue poles and ropes, self-inflating devices, floating boards... These tools can help us rescue a drowning person in the water. In fact, in some European countries they are already part of the public equipment available on beaches and lakes. "Just as we see fire extinguishers and defibrillators in our daily lives, we also need the resources to be able to act safely if we witness someone in trouble in the water," explains Ramsés Martí, an emergency medical nurse, lifeguard, and water safety expert. "Having these types of items in Catalan bathing areas could serve as a first response to a drowning while emergency services arrive," he explains.

Playa de Aro will begin an ambitious renovation of its seafront in September. The project will be carried out in three phases and will not only modernize the current promenade, which, according to Mayor Mauricio Jiménez, "dates from the 1990s and has aged poorly," but will also extend it to the port of Aro, thanks to the work carried out 30 years ago. When the project is completed in 2030, the new promenade will stretch along the municipality's two kilometers of beach.

From the tourist boom of the 1960s to the present day, the urban exploitation of the coast has continued virtually unchecked. Beyond some emblematic but very limited territorial actions, such as the natural parks of Cap de Creus, Aiguamolls de l'Empordà and Montgrí-Medes-Baix Ter in the north, the Llobregat Delta next to El Prat airport –now under threat– or the Ebro Delta in the south, the Catalan coast has suffered continuous constructive pressure for more than half a century, both under the dictatorship and during democracy. Protected natural areas have too often been used as a pretext to give other spaces a free hand to intrusive and very intensive building. Construction as an economic driving force, the need for income for historically underfunded local councils, the slow and hesitant environmental awareness and the tourist monoculture of many regions have been the factors that have caused the great urban spread that the Catalan coast has become.

Villas or apartment blocks on the beachfront, scattered and unconnected housing developments and houses in the middle of natural areas: the coast is full of them all, and you can't undo what has already been done. But you can try to protect what is left of the coast. With this aim, the Catalan government has approved an urban development master plan to review the sustainability of 41 municipalities' urban planning, from Malgrat de Mar to Alcanar. It is the continuation of the protection plan for the Costa Brava, which already vetoed the construction of 15,000 homes, although it also gave the green light to another 15,000. In order to carry out the review, the Generalitat will suspend the licenses for projects that could involve the construction of 70,000 homes in 30 municipalities for a maximum of one year. It will also evaluate 40,000 more in other areas. The suspension, however, will not affect urbanization or construction projects that are already underway.