Residents of Arganzuela have decided to stand their ground against the Madrid City Council: parent-teacher associations and neighborhood groups in the Mahou-Calderón area have already gathered nearly 10,000 signatures opposing the city’s plan to build the future EMT Museum on a plot of land next to the Manzanares River that the urban development plan had designated for sports facilities.
The conflict centers on plot EQ4, located next to the former Vicente Calderón Stadium and the Madrid Río park, within the Nuevo Mahou-Calderón area. According to neighborhood groups, such as the Pasillo Verde-Imperial Neighborhood Association, the plan approved in 2017 designated this land for public sports facilities, a key element to offset residential growth and the inconvenience suffered for years due to demolition and development work. The City Council, however, wants to relocate the EMT Museum to this site, envisioning it as an exhibition space for the municipal transportation company’s collection of historic buses.
The associations claim that, to make room for the museum, the City Council is proposing to move the promised sports facility to another plot linked to the expansion of the Tomás Bretón public school, which, in practice, would mean “spreading across three plots what was originally intended for four” and reducing space for the school. In their view, a facility intended for children and youth is being sacrificed in favor of a project aimed at tourism and city branding.
9,400 signatures, crowdfunding, and a possible lawsuit
Parent-teacher associations and neighborhood organizations have collected 9,403 signatures—2,670 on paper and 6,733 online—which they will deliver this Wednesday at the Palacio de Cibeles, the seat of the Madrid City Council. With this gesture, they aim to highlight the “strong opposition” to the change of use and demand that the City Council respect the agreed-upon plan.
At the same time, they have launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance legal action in court if the municipal government proceeds with the project on plot EQ4. Their goal is to raise 10,000 euros to cover the costs of an administrative lawsuit; in just three days, they had already surpassed 3,000 euros in donations, according to the data they have released.
“We will fight to ensure the neighborhood’s needs are met before those of tourism.”
The organizations involved insist that they do not oppose the EMT Museum as an idea, but rather its specific location. “Tourist interests cannot come at the expense of children,” they emphasize in their campaign, in which they point out that there are other plots and spaces in the city suitable for housing the bus collection without sacrificing the facilities planned for Mahou-Calderón.
Among the facilities they demand be maintained as outlined in the plan are new sports facilities for school and neighborhood use—whether through the expansion of IES Gran Capitán, the expansion of CEIP Tomás Bretón, public housing, or a senior center. In a district where the population has grown and pressure on schools, high schools, and sports fields is increasing, they consider it “unacceptable” to reduce the size of the public facilities after years of neighborhood activism to secure them.
The standoff that is now unfolding with the City Council
With the petition submitted and the resistance fund underway, the ball is back in City Hall’s court, which has yet to resolve the design competition launched by the Official College of Architects (COAM) to design the EMT Museum. If the City Council confirms the selection of plot EQ4, the associations are prepared to take the battle to court, relying on the binding provisions of the partial plan and the initial commitment to designate the land for sports facilities.
This case joins other recent conflicts in Madrid over the use of public land and the tension between “showcase city” projects and basic neighborhood needs. In Arganzuela, the residents’ message is clear: the bus museum, yes, but not at the expense of the sports center, which, they point out, has been promised for years to those who have endured the noise, dust, and construction cranes of the new Mahou-Calderón.