Historically, Barcelona has been the powerhouse of Spain in many ways. His aspiration to take the plunge horizon of 2035 the rapprochement of the metropolitan region of 5.1 million inhabitants represents a new roadmap which, although it still needs to be defined administratively involving transfers of skills, both from the Generalitat and from the municipalities, is in practice a reality based on the urban continuum and also a need for coordination of services and citizen orders.
Barcelona is a brand and a global reference, but the municipality with its 1.7 million inhabitants does not allow it to compete with the major metropolises of the world. Even the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) is beginning to be insufficient, which brings together with 3.3 million inhabitants 36 municipalities which, in the collective imagination, function as a whole despite their different levels of administrative management. Today, with Jaume Collboni’s proposal, we are already talking about a large metropolitan region of 5.1 million inhabitants and 160 municipalities it would also administratively configure the truly great Barcelona, an economic and demographic power that could speak face to face with other major cities in the world, thus strengthening its contribution as one of the main engines of Spain.
The power of the current Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is based on data such as the fact that 83% of the subsidiaries of foreign companies in Catalonia are concentrated in the AMB, which also generates 55% of the GDP of all of Catalonia , there 52% of employment and 45% of the productive fabric of the autonomous community. The 80 indicators included in the report “The metropolis of Barcelona. Invest, work and live”, based on 2023 data, demonstrates the metropolis’ capacity to attract foreign investment. The report emphasizes the need to emphasize that we are not only talking about the city of Barcelona so that investors understand that we are talking about an articulated and connected metropolitan group.
There are many overlapping management levels – municipalities, regional councils, AMB, Provincial Council, Generalitat, State, EU – and each of them has certain attributions and powers that are difficult for them to get rid of. Although collaboration between administrations has greatly improved and the AMB brings together common skills in many areas such as waste management, transport and certain aspects of urban planning, the truth is that many experts emphasize that Efforts should be simplified and unified so that everyone works in a more coordinated and efficient manner. Policies for housing, industry, the environment, transport and basic services must have a metropolitan vision.
Barcelona and its current metropolitan area have an area of 636 square kilometers, while only the municipality of Madrid has 604 square kilometers and includes the airport and El Pardo, which is like the Collserola mountain range for Barcelona. The metropolitan area of Barcelona, in its current conception, concentrates a population of 3.3 million inhabitants and 55% of Catalan GDP, or almost 150 billion euros, which means that for every euro generated in Catalonia, more than half is produced in the current metropolis, an area that employs 1.8 million workers, this which represents 52% of Catalan GDP. employees throughout the community, the vast majority in the service sector and only 9% in industry. If Barcelona is not thought of as a whole in the urban continuum from Vilanova to Sabadell and Mataró, with coordinated planning and policies, it will be more difficult to solve the current problems of citizens, experts believe.
Barcelona wants to take advantage of the strength of the different research and innovation centers which are distributed throughout the metropolitan area and are leaders throughout Spain. From the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), an area where the Hospital Clínic should also be installed in its planned extension at the beginning of Diagonal, next to L’Hospitalet and Esplugues . Added to this are the future expanded Gran Vía exhibition center, the Bellvitge hospital and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) in L’Hospitalet which, together with the Sant Joan de Déu children’s hospital, constitute the basis of the future biomedical “hub”. or BioPol. Also worth noting are the Alba Synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallés, the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Castelldefels and the Santa Coloma de Gramanet Food Campus.
In short, Barcelona is the most important scientific capital of Spain and southern Europe and occupies the fourth position in terms of publication of “articles” throughout Europe, but in terms of transfer it occupies the eleventh position. In its metropolitan area, it is home to major infrastructures such as the airport, the Baix Llobregat agrarian park, industrial and service zones such as the Free zoneEl Prat or Sant Cugat, six technology parks and eight universities, in addition to the future audiovisual hub of the Three Chimneys, to give just a few examples of how the needs of the capital are being met with the creation of new urban centers located in other municipalities which They continue to be part of the urban continuum.
The metropolitan area of Barcelona has a GDP per capita of almost 39,000 euros, which places it above the whole of Catalonia and the rest of Spain, in addition to being positioned similarly to European capitals like Berlin, Milan, Innsbruck. and Antwerp. Despite this indicator, AMB municipalities have a poverty risk rate of more than 21%, higher than the results which are obtained throughout Spain and the European Union. Experts also point out that anyone who can help solve the risk of poverty is a success in the field of startups and quality tourism visitors, because “it is a blessing to have such successful sectors.”
All the major transformations that Barcelona needs must necessarily be metropolitan, because that is the real Barcelona. That of the metro and the Cercanías (Rodalies). And to respond to these challenges, it is necessary to strengthen metropolitan governancewhich involves the town halls, the AMB, the Provincial Council of Barcelona and also the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia, because everyone would have to give up powers, as they have already done in the metropolises of the United Kingdom. During this mandate, Mayor Collboni opened the debate in search of a new consensus between the main Catalan administrations to achieve this metropolitan impulse. Because Barcelona is back and did it thinking big.
