Can we plan together with purpose, balance, and commitment to the future?

Abstract

At a time when land is under political, economic, and ecological pressure, the choice between urbanizing rural land or rewilding urban space cannot be treated as a binary decision. This article argues that the Execution Unit (UE), as a contractual and flexible instrument, plays a central role in addressing this tension. This perspective gains particular relevance considering recent legislative amendments to the Legal Framework for Territorial Management Instruments (RJIGT) which, although aimed at responding to pressing needs, raise concerns about the fragmentation of land policy and the weakening of strategic planning.

Thus, rather than choosing between urbanizing or rewilding, we must ask: can we plan together to pursue both paths with vision, fairness, and effectiveness? A critical reassessment of the UE is therefore proposed, demonstrating how it can combine rehabilitation and expansion, territorial justice and timely execution. Based on a practical application in a municipality in the central region, in the interior of the country — in the context of duties performed as a senior technician in local government, in the fields of urbanism, planning, and spatial development, with consolidated knowledge of territorial dynamics and the risks associated with urban expansion to the detriment of the regeneration of existing buildings — the article presents an integrated proposal: to rehabilitate a vulnerable urban neighborhood while connecting it to an adjacent area of rural land (to be urbanized).

It is argued that only through mechanisms of fair distribution and integrated vision can we avoid both the paralysis of underused urban land and the scattered occupation of rural territory. In this light, the Execution Unit emerges as an original and strategic response to current environmental, housing, and legislative challenges.

It is argued that only through mechanisms of fair distribution and integrated vision can we avoid both the paralysis of underused urban land and the scattered occupation of rural areas. In this light, the Execution Unit emerges as an original and strategic response to today’s environmental, housing, and legal challenges.