Summary

For years, the Benidorm urban development model has been criticized for encouraging high-rise buildings, overcrowding and land speculation. Yet, in contrast with different tourist resorts, where the coastline is systematically being destroyed by invasive residential complexes, and where immense ghost towns are empty most of the year, fifty years after its inception, the Benidorm model might in fact turn out to be the most sustainable one on the Spanish coast. It occupies very little land and there is virtually no use of private transport as every point in town is only a 10-minute walk away from the beach.