First, residents of Arganzuela rejected it, and now those in the La Paz and San Cristóbal areas are doing the same: the project to build “Torre Panorama,” a 260-meter-tall vertical Ferris wheel, is once again facing opposition from residents of the neighborhood where plans are being considered to build what would be the tallest structure not only in the city but in its category worldwide, surpassing even the Ain Dubai—currently the largest—by several meters.
The proposal, promoted by Madrid Foro Empresarial—a business organization with more than 350 members—and viewed favorably by the Madrid City Council, calls for construction on a plot of land owned by the Municipal Transportation Company (EMT) near the Cuatro Torres, with more than 10,000 square meters of buildable area and a private investment of 300 million euros, according to a report by El Mundo a few days ago.
This giant vertical Ferris wheel would be located next to La Paz Hospital and very close, as well, to the Colonia de San Cristóbal neighborhood, whose residents have been fighting for years to ensure that the city’s growth and the area’s development as a financial and business hub—with projects already underway such as Madrid Nuevo Norte—do not leave them in the shadows.
The negative impact on the neighborhood denounced by residents
The San Cristóbal Neighborhood Association in the Castilla district has highlighted the negative consequences the project would have for the neighborhood, emphasizing that “it has been proposed without neighborhood participation.”
Among them are increased traffic and congestion, more noise and pollution, the negative impact on La Paz Hospital (noting that patients and their families do not need “a hub of mass leisure and overcrowding”), an irreversible visual impact on the neighborhood, and the gentrification of the area: “We don’t need a massive tourist attraction. We need a neighborhood to live in,” reads a forceful post on the matter.
The neighborhood’s needs
In response, residents are calling for a quiet, family-friendly, and livable neighborhood that meets their actual needs, which lie elsewhere: more green spaces and public areas, facilities and services for residents, affordable and subsidized housing, and investments that improve their quality of life.
