Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The Vice-president of the AMB Area for International Relations and Cooperation, Ernest Maragall, and the president of the Council of Metropolis GZM, Kazimierz Karolczak, recently entered into a new cooperation agreement between the two metropolitan areas. The agreement was approved by the Council of the AMB on 22 January and by the Council of the Polish metropolis on the 27th.

Metropolis GZM, the capital of which is the city of Katowice, is the only metropolitan area in Poland and equally as numerous, representing 41 municipalities from the Polish provinces of Upper Silesia and the D?browa Basin.

Cooperation in similar areas

This Agreement is the result of bilateral conversations and joint efforts within the network of European Metropolitan Authorities (EMA), as well as other related initiatives, and aims to bolster ties and increase cooperation between Metropolis GZM and the AMB. 

A system of cooperation will therefore be established between the two metropolitan areas with a view to building on and expanding the relations between them and the municipalities they represent, with partners that include universities and private companies. Cooperation will take the form, inter alia, of the exchange of information and experiences, participation in study visits, joint actions and projects and the exchange of good practices, with support, at all times, for the economic and social actors of both regions in effort to promote joint cooperation.

The institutions will cooperate in areas in which they are involved in similar tasks. Therefore, the main issues that will be addressed under this international cooperation agreement are: 

• Metropolitan governance
• Regional planning and development
• Public space
• Economic and social development
• Green metropolis
• Climate change
• Sustainable metropolitan, urban and environmental development
• Integrated mobility, public transport and logistics