*5.1. Planning Process*

In general, the mere fact that the local oil refinery is going to be dismantled is perceived as positive by all of the stakeholders. It is rather the surprising announcement of the megaproject and the public–private agreement itself that causes contradicting perceptions among the interviewees. For some of them, such as those from the real estate sector, the project is not advancing fast enough. The representative of the local real estate association points out that from his point of view, "there is no formalized agreement" [74] (l.6). He even questions the title of the announcement and insists that the document should rather be regarded as "pre-agreement" [74] (l.25). He justifies this opinion with the lack of concreteness in the document. Indeed, it remains rather vague, as the contract presented by CEPSA and the townhall describes very general goals such as sustainability and the remodeling of Santa Cruz's waterfront. The urbanistic figures it contains, such as planning parameters, have provoked confusion among the interviewees. Presenting concrete numbers is far too rushed [75] (l.8), as they do not have a legal bindingness. This is why all of the stakeholders highly doubt the quality of the planning process and criticize prevailing uncertainties in the plan. Critics range from "there is literally nothing" [74] (l.24) to "it's a plan without urbanism" [76] (l.18). It is not untypical in urban development contracts to start with a rather general first version. This can be concretized and complemented by further agreements [77]. However, the prevailing document lacks a concrete (time) schedule, which could increase its transparency and acceptability.

Apart from that, one out of five interviewees felt sufficiently informed about the project itself. Only the representative of a monument preservation association gained insights into the process because she actively investigated. She also had contacts to primary stakeholders in charge due to her former political career [76] (l.22). The other interviewees clearly criticized the communication management of the megaproject's initiators [74] (l.24) [78] (l.32). One interviewee summarized it in the following way: "In the initial phase of the agreement between CEPSA and the town hall the process has not been transparent at all, which means, [ ... ] they sat down, they negotiated, they signed and there was nothing communicative about it" [79] (l.32). This policy of non-transparency is linked directly to the fact that no considerable public discussion is taking place: "Those of us who could have been critical did not have enough information to be critical" [79] (l.56). This observation represents what has been described in Section 2 as the underlying intention to prevent critical opinions. The problem is considered to be a structural one: "Certain political organizations have a habit of not being transparent, but of doing everything behind the citizen's back. It's a historical habit" [79] (l.38). This non-transparent situation leaves stakeholders disappointed, also because it seems to be a regular thing in the city's urban planning: "Every time the politicians go ahead, without considering that they motivate us and then the years pass by, as it has happened in so many cases" [74] (l.6).

## *5.2. Image and the Political Dimension*

As has already been indicated in Section 2, a strong focus on image- and marketingrelated instruments is a typical characteristic of current megaprojects. This is also the case in the prevailing case study. The interviewees notice "a very strong marketing campaign [ ... ]" [79] (l.32). In that respect, not only representative 3D models in images and videos were published by the initiators [76] (l.100). The whole marketing campaign is perceived as disproportional: "these are information and news with a hype, simply to create sensationalism in that moment" [74] (l.6). However, "behind [the image], there is no contents" [76] (l.22).

The interviewees assign the strong motivation to present the megaproject to the media and sell it as a success rather to the townhall than to CEPSA [79] (p. 32). According to the interviews, this is based on political interests. A direct relation to the upcoming municipal election is suggested, which took place only eleven months after the first announcement of Santa Cruz Verde 2030 [74] (l.22) [79] (l.52). Some even see in the upcoming election campaign the main motivation behind the project: "I know that their priority was to announce the project before the elections" [76] (l.22). For the former mayor Bermúdez and his party, the regionalist Coalición Canaria, this strategy has paid off, as they increased their result about 28% and defended the largest parliamentary group with currently more than one third of all city councilors [80]. Nevertheless, they lost the mayoralty temporarily. The oppositional left-wing and liberal parties formed a stronger coalition that led to a change in the municipal government in June 2019. The liberal party Ciudadanos was part of this new government and occupied henceforth the area of urban planning in the city. It thus became responsible for Santa Cruz Verde 2030. Interestingly, in the interview, the new head of the municipal planning office admitted that he did not even study in detail the public–private agreement announced by the anterior government [75] (l.5). This symbolizes the value he assigns to the document. From this moment on, a policy change concerning the announced megaproject was observed. A much less publicoriented approach was focused on. It follows the argument that a deeper analysis of the megaproject's setting, its opportunities and limitations is required [75] (l.8). The interviewee places the responsibility for that on the technicians who elaborate the new land-use plan of the city [75] (l.10). The less publicity-related way of working of the new government has also led to the perception that the new government did not bring forward the megaproject sufficiently [74] (l.6). The preservationist puts it this way: "They still don't know what to do" [76] (l.36), while the representative of the environmental association observes that "with the new government in charge, the whole project has been paralyzed" [79] (l.82).

In July 2020, the former mayor Bermúdez was able to regain the mayoralty because the city councilor of Ciudadanos (who was head of the planning office) left the government due to internal conflicts [81]. It is not clear if the megaproject Santa Cruz Verde 2030 was part of the conflicts that the politician described. It has also led to a change in public communication with regard to the megaproject—again. Since July, new pieces of information on how the megaproject is advancing have been distributed by the new government. This was promoted as a new set of policies including the reopening of the negotiations with CEPSA, but also the establishment of a task force [10,82]. However, this most recent episode of the planning process did not form part of our research because the interviews had taken place before the government changed again.

The aforementioned findings reveal how the megaproject has become highly political. Both opposition and government argue on how to best approach this highly complex project. The current government under Bermúdez is trying to establish new alliances with secondary stakeholders such as the architectural association of the island [10]. The aim is to integrate the knowledge on urbanism of this institution into the planning process. Simultaneously, there is still an ongoing legal dispute promoted by the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), which denounced the public–private contract to be misleading. According to their perception, it must not be considered as a contract because it lacks legal cohesiveness. The court decision is still underway [83].
