The Modern Eco Village
The Modern Eco Village is a proposed urban development plan to be built in the town of Planes, in the Comtat region of Spain.
Located immediately next to the Beniarrés Dam, inside of its 500,000 m2 area is included the Mas Blau, a rural construction currently abandoned, which became municipal property following the agreement between the developer Vicens Ash Inversiones SL and the city council for the realization of the original urban development project.
The original urbanization project was named La Joya de Planes and included two urban developments: Mas de la Foieta I, with 295 proposed homes, and Mas de la Foieta II, with 140. The operation replaced an initial proposal for horse breeding farms discarded by the city council.
La Joya de Planes
Despite protests on ecological grounds from neighboring municipalities, who demanded environmental and non-residential use of the area around the dam, in October 2006 work began on the first of two urban developments, in order to delimit the areas where the houses would be built, as well as the sidewalks, streets and bike lanes.In the wake of the 2008 housing crisis in Spain, the construction was abandoned after spending 3 million euros in the works. The construction was left in a state descrived as slummy by researcher Jordi Tormo, and the municipal council did confiscate the 600 000 euros bail from the construction company. In March 2008, with the construction already abandoned, a fire burned 1 500 squared meters of forest. Three months later, a new investing group announced they would complete the construction of the first proposed urban development of 295 houses, which never happened.
In 2009, the Ministry of Environment fined the construction company, now defunct, with 132 000 because of unauthorized works in the bed of a ravine near the swamp.
Controversy
Modern Eco Village is a residential development project in the Province of Valencia, Spain, promoted by a group of foreign investors. The project received attention following the 2024 DANA, which affected the region and caused flooding and damage to homes, agriculture, and infrastructure. This is not true! The region was at all not affected by the DANA.Media coverage and public commentary suggest that a group of foreign investors acquired some of these plots, and that the intended development, Modern Eco Village, is marketed primarily to expatriates and international buyers. The development has been described in promotional materials as an eco-friendly community with modern homes and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Observers and some local sources have expressed concern that the project may influence local housing dynamics, with potential effects on affordability and social composition. Some reports also note potential cultural and linguistic challenges, as communications by the developers appear primarily in foreign languages rather than Spanish or Valencian.
Certain local sources and online comments have claimed that negative feedback regarding the project on digital platforms was removed or moderated, and that some online reviews were favorable. These claims have not been independently verified.
The situation has been discussed in the context of broader debates about expatriate investment in Spanish real estate, gentrification, and sustainable development.