Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

What is the definition of metropolitan space? How can we improve public policy is this area? And what elements must be taken into account in order to keep doing so in the future?

These and other questions were addressed on 7 and 8 October as part of the course "The Future of Metropolitan Governance: Policies, Partnerships and Co-Production", organised by Metropolis, the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona (PEMB) and the Ernest Lluch Centre (CUIMPB), in which the AMB took part through the Area for International Relations and Cooperation of the AMB. The discussion brought together actors with significant roles in the development of metropolitan policies on the occasion of World Metropolitan Day, an initiative of Metropolis and UN-Habitat's MetroHub platform, which commemorates the signing of the Declaration on Metropolitan Areas in October 2015.

The first day of the event explored the current complexity of metropolitan governance by analysing everything from the various models in place around the world to their limitations and potential negative consequences. Participants also had the chance to compare the perspectives of representatives from the so-called "quadruple helix", comprised of public administrations, the private sector, the academic world and citizens' platforms, all with different interests and visions of the metropolitan phenomenon.

On the second day of the seminar, discussion shifted to the form metropolitan public policies will take in the future given the increasingly urban global reality, with experiences from the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, who presented this Welsh initiative aimed at incorporating and implementing sustainability across all policies.

The event concluded with a round table in which participants emphasised the need for public policies based on truthful and verifiable information, the design of these policies and factors which must be taken into account when drawing up strategic plans.