The internacional action of metropolitan areas

| Subject: Metropolis, International Relations

Presenting the "International Strategies in Metropolitan Areas" study

The International Strategies in Metropolitan Areas Seminar took place in Barcelona on the 4th and 5th of July, 2019. It was organised by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), the Barcelona Institute for International Studies (IBEI), the World Association of the Major Metropolises (Metropolis) and the Euro Latin American Alliance between Cities (AL-LAS).

The seminar started with a session open to the public to present the "International Action of Metropolises" study, which was carried out by the CIDOB. It analyses five case studies on the metropolises of Durban, Medellin, Seoul, Montreal and Vienna and it contains recommendations regarding the completion of objectives for internationalisation which are useful to the AMB. After that, representatives of different metropolitan areas like Amsterdam, Manchester and Montevideo highlighted the need to involve different characteristics present in metropolitan territories, such as a firm political will, as key elements in achieving the internationalisation of metropolitan areas. Metropolitan actors like the Gavà municipality, the Sant Feliu de Llobregat municipality and the Barcelona Port also participated.

Each of the closed sessions that took place later revolved around the three main themes of the seminar: The economic dimension of international metropolitan actions, metropolitan internationalisation through human capital and the construction of international metropolitan strategies with local actors. The necessity of focusing on a shared territorial vision, including various economic aspects in internationalisation strategies for metropolitan areas and the necessity of sharing and disseminating these strategies among all of the territorial actors, including citizens, like in the case of Montreal, were some of the most important inputs from the discussion.

The Metropolis Observatory will use the results, conclusions and recommendations of the seminar to produce a document about metropolitan internationalisation trends. 

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CIDOB Carrer d'Elisabets, 14, 08001, Barcelona