The 36 municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, including L'Hospitalet, agree on a shared strategy to address housing, mobility, and climate change. The second edition of the AMB 15+15 Dialogues brings together mayors and experts to define metropolitan development until 2041.
Italian urban planner Alessandro Balducci, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan, has positioned the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) as “the most prestigious example of metropolitan administration on the continent.” During his speech at the AMB 15+15 Dialogues, held at the Espai Mestral in the Olympic Port, Balducci warned that the main problems of large cities can only be tackled through shared planning. “Urgent issues such as climate change, housing, and mobility must be addressed at a metropolitan scale,” he emphasised.
A reference model in Europe
The author of the book The Invisible City: What We Don’t See is Changing the Metropolis highlighted that the Barcelona metropolis is “one of the most innovative regions in the world,” alongside Silicon Valley, Boston, Shanghai, and São Paulo. However, he made a strong reflection: “We often try to govern the city and society of the 21st century with governments from the 20th century and borders from the 19th century.” In this regard, he called for adapting administrations to an increasingly integrated metropolitan reality, where the “real city” far exceeds the administrative boundaries of each municipality.
The Vice President of the Water Cycle and Metropolitan Policy Analysis Area of the AMB and Mayor of Sant Joan Despí, Belén García, opened the meeting by recalling that the priorities of the cycle “coincide with the greatest needs we have as a society: sustainable territorial development, social cohesion, and economic development.” García insisted that L'Hospitalet and Baix Llobregat must stop planning separately to face challenges that transcend municipal borders.
Neighbourhood life versus large platforms
During the discussion panels, the AMB's Urban Planning Coordinator, Loles Herrero, highlighted that the polycentric model envisaged by the Metropolitan Urban Planning Director Plan (PDUM) aims to protect values such as “local commerce and neighbourhood life,” against the growing influence of large commercial and digital platforms. Herrero argued that planning must prioritise the human scale and reduce territorial imbalances within the metropolitan area.
Philosopher Victòria Camps added that citizens must engage in the construction of cities. “People not only need services; they also need to feel involved in decisions and urban life,” she stated. Camps advocated for more participatory governance that involves the residents of L'Hospitalet and other municipalities in designing their environment.
Nature as essential infrastructure
Another consensus reached was that nature must stop being understood as a separate element from the city and become essential infrastructure to improve quality of life and increase resilience to climate change. The Mayor of El Prat, Alba Bou, summarised this idea: “There should not be a dichotomy between city and nature. The city needs to have nature included in its territory and in its daily life.”
The Director of Public Space Services at the AMB, Albert Gassull, insisted that urban planning should focus less on what city to build and more on what problems it needs to solve. Gassull pointed out that the metropolis must prioritise the regeneration of degraded spaces and the creation of green corridors that connect urban centres with the natural environment.
The AMB 15+15 Dialogues, initiated to mark the 15th anniversary of the AMB, have served to define the priorities that will shape metropolitan development until 2041. Among them, more affordable housing, better-integrated mobility, and coordinated climate adaptation stand out. The next step will be to incorporate these conclusions into the urban planning of each municipality, including L'Hospitalet, where the City Council has already announced that it will align its planning with the metropolitan strategy.
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