MedCities, in collaboration with the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and the European Metropolitan Authorities (EMA), organized the event “Building Metropolitan Governance in the Mediterranean region” on 12 and 13 December 2023, in Barcelona and its surrounding area. This event aimed at discussing the processes related to metropolitan management and supramunicipal cooperation that are being carried out in the Mediterranean region.

On 12 December, the conference took place in the AMB premises and focused on the lessons learned by MedCities members. It also proposed models and tools to promote metropolitan solutions to the current urban development challenges facing Mediterranean cities. The debate fuels a MedCities-led study on metropolitan governance that will be published soon. Improving the governance of cities and metropolitan areas is key to dealing with issues related to the climate crisis, energy, food security, mobility, territorial cohesion, and economic development, among others. The way the information about how this management is done reaches the citizens is another fundamental aspect. The debate in various panels focused on who has the capacity and competencies to manage the main economic, social, and climate activities and the subsequent impacts to which cities and towns are subjected; and how the interactions between different political (local, regional, state…) and economic entities are carried out to have the capacity to face these challenges, adding synergies.

Among the different interventions, that of Ms. Elisenda Alamany particularly highlighted the importance of the institutionalization of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona to be able to meet the challenges of the 36 municipalities of the area, as well as the need to communicate to citizens its intervention to offer them crucial services such as public transport, water or social housing. She also emphasized the essential role that metropolises play in meeting the objectives of the 2030 agenda

For MedCities, this conference was the occasion to underline, through his General Secretary’s words, Mr. Josep Canals Molina, the organization’s priority to work on urban development in the Mediterranean and on the new governance models and the challenges it poses.

On the second day, participants had the opportunity to make two field visits. The first took them to Santa Coloma de Gramenet where they were able to learn about the recovery that took place in the Besòs river basin, from a social and environmental perspective linked to the visit to the facilities of the CIBA facility, a resource center for women that provides tools to improve their autonomy in all areas of life. Subsequently, the team went to Gavà to visit a metropolitan beach and understand how it is managed. Metropolitan beaches occupy approximately 42 kilometers of coastline, with 42 beaches, resulting in being one of the most used metropolitan public spaces, with nearly 10.5 million users each year. A visit was made to the metropolitan dune system, winning the project of the New European Bauhaus 2022 award in the “Reconnecting with Nature” category. They could also see how these spaces are connected to city centers through sustainable mobility with bike lanes and “AMBici” metropolitan bike stations. The visit ended at the island’s viewpoint in El Prat del Llobregat where the participants learned about the situation and management of the Llobregat Delta and the importance of its environmental particularity.