The Barcelona we want
Here are the most outstanding initiatives for a more open, human and proudly diverse city.
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The Barcelona we want is an open, proudly diverse city. We are aware that we are living in exceptional times and that the only way we can face the challenges of the 21st century is through cooperation, innovation and changing the ways we do politics.
The Barcelona of the future is a healthier city that bolsters and promotes community life in our neighbourhoods and creates green spaces for everyone. A city where our children can grow up happily and where the elderly can access and enjoy its streets and squares. A city that takes care of the health and welfare of people and the planet.
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Barcelona Superblock
We want to make Barcelona a more sustainable city that improves people’s quality of life, which is why we are promoting a very distinctive and unique project: Barcelona Superblock.
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Right to housing
We are the administration that has made the biggest investment in housing. We work in conjunction with social entities, residents associations and professionals from the sector in different areas of housing, including the promotion of new public rental flats, the mobilization of empty housing, and the support of housing cooperatives.
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Diversified and innovative economy
We want to play a leading role in the post-Covid-19 era and to consolidate the city as the scientific and cultural capital of the Mediterranean, at the forefront of the European transition towards a greener and circular economy that will improve people's quality of life.
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Diverse and feminist city
We want to be a city of freedom, respect and equality, where everybody can be who they want to and where this is something to be happy about and proud of. A diverse and feminist Barcelona.
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A city that cares for people’s mental health
The health emergency has highlighted the importance of looking after our mental health and that of our loved ones. We need to protect mental health with specific public policies and a budget, not just with words.
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City international benchmark
Barcelona has been recognised as European Capital of Inclusion and Diversity (2022) and Cultural and Scientific Capital of the State (2021), as well as the World Capital of Sustainable Food (2021), World Capital of Time Policies (2022-2023), European Capital of Sustainable Mobility (until 2026) and World Capital of Architecture (2026).
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Cultural and Science Capital
Culture is part of our city’s personality. It is a priority sector for us so that’s why we allocate 6% of our budget to it, a percentage much higher than that of other administrations. We believe culture is part of our lives and a powerful tool for transformation.
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Boost for public services
Barcelona leads the way in social investment per inhabitant and is strengthening its public services. We innovate with pioneering services, such as the municipal dental service for people in vulnerable situations.
Most asked
In this section we will respond to any doubts or concerns which local people in Barcelona address to the Mayor via different channels.
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In this section we will respond to any doubts or concerns which local people in Barcelona address to the Mayor via different channels.
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What is the Mayor’s salary?
The official salary assigned to her office is €100,000 a year. If the Mayor was to receive her full salary and the expenses she is entitled to as the chair of the Metropolitan Area, her monthly income would be € 7,000. Instead, she receives a net salary of € 3,191 a month, waives her subsistence allowances and gives the rest of her salary to social projects.
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Why have the streets been painted in different colours?
These actions correspond to tactical urbanism. Paint and signs are used to quickly adapt public space to needs which arise, as is the case with the pandemic. When long-term work is considered necessary, a definitive transformation is the next step.
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What is being done for commerce in Barcelona?
The retail and hospitality sectors bring life to our neighbourhoods, they create wealth and jobs, they build communities and are an essential part of our collective identity.
We support local commerce with measures to promote the economic recovery and initiatives to boost neighbourhood life and the commercial fabric.
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Are there plans to improve our cleaning service?
Cleaning is one of the main concerns of local residents. And of the City Council too: it is the contract we allocate most money to, practically 10% of the annual municipal budget.
Get to know the Mayor better
Do you want to know who Ada Colau is? Here you will find an overview of the life of the first woman mayor in the history of Barcelona.
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Ada Colau Ballano is Barcelona’s first female mayor.
Committed to the city’s values and in tune with the needs of its people, during her time in office she has changed the priorities on the agenda, incorporating grassroots policies (for example the Neighbourhoods Plan and housing policies) while also tackling global challenges such as the climate emergency.
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She was born in Barcelona, on 3 March 1974. She is the granddaughter of migrants. Her paternal grandparents were shepherds in Güel (Osca). Her maternal grandparents came from Almazán, a village in Sòria. All four came to Barcelona in search of a better future.
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Her childhood and part of her teenage years were spent in the neighbourhood of El Guinardó, where she grew up with her three sisters. However, she has lived in many different neighbourhoods over the course of her life, including El Congrés, El Gòtic, La Ribera, and La Barceloneta.
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She studied at the Escola Àngels Garriga and the Acadèmia Febrer.
She studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona (UB). During her time at university, she also spent a year studying in Milan (Italy) on an Erasmus scholarship.
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Like many others of her generation, she suffered from a lack of opportunities and job insecurity. She had various jobs, which she combined with social activism and defending human rights and the right to housing. She now continues to defend these values in her position as Mayor.
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She participated in the DESC Observatory, a platform of organisations and individuals dedicated to the study and defence of economic, social and cultural rights, first as a cooperation expert and later as the head of the Right to Housing and City Affairs Department.
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In 2009 she helped found the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), a movement which quickly spread throughout Spain. Since its creation, it has prevented more than fifty thousand evictions. She was its main spokeswoman until 2014.
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As spokesperson for the PAH she appeared before the Economic Commission of the Spanish Congress of Deputies during proceedings for a reform of mortgage legislation. This experience was a turning point in the fight for the right to housing.
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In 2014, together with people involved in the residents’ movement and movements in defence of public health and education plus others from academia, she promoted the Guanyem Barcelona (Let’s win Barcelona) project to run in the local election.
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As the main candidate for the election coalition Barcelona en Comú, she won the 2015 election.
On 15 June 2019 she was re-elected mayor of Barcelona.
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She has faced difficult moments and exceptional challenges during her term of office, such as the baton charges by the police during the 1-O Catalan independence referendum in 2017, the terrorist attacks on the Rambla, and the social and health emergency caused by COVID-19. In the face of adversity Barcelona has always demonstrated its ability to effectively respond.
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At the City Council, she has prioritised the fight against inequality, the promotion of a more sustainable city model, the defence of the right to decent housing, and the objective of making Barcelona a more participation-based city.
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While in office, some of her most noteworthy achievements include launching the Neighbourhoods Plan, creating the Barcelona Anti-Evictions Unit, the Special Tourist Accommodation Plan, the Superblocks programme and the creation of more peaceful school environments.
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The policies implemented by her government have received a range of awards and acknowledgements. Some of the most noteworthy of these include the Hotels Salut project, being a finalist in the City Nation Place Awards and winner of the Responsible Tourism Awards (2020), and the European Responsible Housing Award for housing policies that combat gentrification (2019).
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She has participated in various forums, such as the Climate Summit for Local Leaders (Paris, 2015), the UN Summit on Housing and Sustainable Development (Quito, 2016) and the High-Level Forum on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (New York, 2018).
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She is currently the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) special envoy for relations between cities and the United Nations and Vice Chair of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of 97 cities committed to addressing the climate crisis.
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She lives on the border between Camp d'en Grassot and Sagrada Família with her partner, Adrià, and her two children, Luca and Gael.
She lives in the same rented flat she lived in before becoming mayor.
Transparency
Properly informed citizens are essential for a strong, democratic society. Which is why the Mayor of Barcelona is making information on her job available to everyone.
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Close to the people
Fancy discovering the initiatives launched by the Mayor for staying in touch with the reality of the city and its residents?
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Meetings with the mayor
“Meetings with the Mayor” are a regular meetings held between the Mayor and neighbourhood residents. They are held without any pre-established agenda. The Mayor attends them to listen, answer what she can, share reflections on the city and its priorities and improve everyday municipal work. They are unprecedented participation spaces.
The first of these took place in 2015, since when, some fifty meetings with residents have been held. They take place every two weeks in Barcelona’s various neighbourhoods (they had to be suspended last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
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Children have plenty to say
Children are citizens in their own right and must be taken into account. Children’s rights are a priority for the Mayor of Barcelona. Because of this, during the Covid-19 health emergency the Mayor made the case for children’s rights and denounced the adult-centred perspective employed to manage the pandemic. Here are some of the projects we are implementing from a perspective which includes our youngest citizens.
International activity
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The Mayor’s international actions strengthen the city's capacity to influence on a municipal level, with special emphasis on issues like the right to housing, support for refugees, social policies, the climate crisis, and the social economy.
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2022May
Coinciding with the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria), the Mayor takes part in ceremonies paying homage to deportees, those who lost their lives in concentration camps and all the victims of Nazism.
The Mayor attends with a delegation organised by the association Amical de Mauthausen.
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2022Mar
The Mayor has a meeting at the Casa Rosada with the president of the Argentine Republic, Alberto Fernández.
She also has a meeting with the vice-president of Argentina and head of the Senate, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and with organisations such as Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, an ethical and political leader in human rights.
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2022Mar
The Mayor attends the swearing-in ceremony for the new president of Chile: Gabriel Boric.
During the trip, the Mayor also engages with other mayors and like-minded municipal experiences, other international delegations and social leaders in the constitutional process.
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2021Nov
The Mayor speaks at the session between cities at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
The Mayor took part together with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to present the campaign “Cities Race to Zero”.
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2021Oct
The Mayor is taking part in the 7th Global Forum for the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, organised by Barcelona City Council in collaboration with the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan. The 200 cities meeting up at the Forum are calling for food systems that combat the climate emergency.
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2021Jul
Mayor of Barcelona is elected Vice Chair of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of 97 cities committed to addressing the climate crisis.
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2020May
During the health and social crisis caused by Covid-19, the Mayor took part in various meetings and gatherings including the “Solidarity in Europe” virtual conference, the #BeyondtheOutbreak gathering about women’s leadership, and the Eurocities network political meeting.
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2020May
On Europe Day, the Mayor spoke to the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, about the role of the cities and the future of Europe.
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2020Jan
The Mayor took part on the eleventh plenary session of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, which was held in Barcelona.
Around 20 representatives from different cities and regions took part in the session.
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2019Nov
The Mayor took part in the inauguration of the EIT Urban Mobility in Barcelona with the talk entitled “Cities leading the Paradigm Shift in Urban Mobility”. Also present were the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, the president of SEAT, Luca de Meo, and the rector of the UPC, Francesc Torres.
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2019Nov
The General Assembly of the Closure of the 6th World CGLU Congress, held in Durban (South Africa), designated the Mayor as special envoy for relations between cities and the United Nations for the next three years.
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2019Oct
The mayor took part in the World C40 Mayors Summit, “The Future We Want”.
The Mayor called for a deadline for stopping the use of diesel, eliminating single use plastics, and limiting short-distance flights as priory actions.
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2019Sep
The Mayor's participation in the inauguration of the Cities for the Climate Emergency World Summit. This was the first United Nations summit on the goals of sustainable development (SDGs) since the 2030 Agenda was adopted in September 2015.
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2019Mar
The Mayor took part in the second Eurocities’ Mayors Summit on the future of Europe, calling for urgent measures concerning housing.
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2019Feb
The Mayor, together with the Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, and the director of Open Arms, Òscar Camps, were received in Rome by Pope Francesc to take part in a summit with Italian mayors to call for the defence of human rights in the Mediterranean.
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2018Dec
The Mayor attended the first general assembly of EIT Urban Mobility, a project estimated to cost €1.6 billion with 48 partners from 15 countries and coordinated by Barcelona City Council.
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2018Nov
The Mayor’s participation in “C40 Talks: Cities Getting the Job Done”, the first international dialogue between cities belonging to the C40 network (Barcelona).
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2018Oct
The Mayor took part in the opening of the annual Medcities conference, “Mediterranean Cities: sustainable and equitable for everyone”.
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2018Aug
The Mayor visited the Italian municipality of Riace to share migration policies.
The visit, together with the Mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris, served to express their recognition of the task undertaken by Riace, a shining example of the reception and integration of migrants and the fight against xenophobia.
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2018Jul
In July, the Mayor held meetings focused on housing and gentrification with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The Mayor and Sadiq Khan wrote the article “Cities with life”, which was published in The Guardian.
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2018Jul
The Mayor's participation in the presentation of the “Cities for adequate housing” declaration at the United Nation's headquarters (New York, USA).
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2018Jul
The Mayor took part in the open debate held at New York University with the then democratic candidate for the 14th District (The Bronx), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, moderated by the journalist Amy Goodman.
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2017Oct
As part of the Citylab project, the Mayor took part in the Fossil Fuel Free Streets Declaration together with the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti.
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2016Dec
The Mayor took part in the European Mayors Summit held in the Vatican to jointly address the refugee crisis.
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2016May
The Mayor took part in local governments’ listening sessions in advance of Housing III, which will define the new urban agenda for cities on housing and sustainable development.
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2015Dec
Participation of the Mayor in the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, organised by Paris City Council and Michael Bloomberg, special envoy of the general secretary of the United Nations, on cities and climate change, together with the C40 network and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
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2015Oct
As part of the “Milan Urban Food Policy Pact” summit, the Mayor signed the Pact in favour of Healthy Eating and Responsible Consumption, together with a hundred other mayors from around the world.
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2015Oct
The Mayor went to Leipzig and Munich (Germany) to learn about their reception and housing solutions for refugees.
The aim of the trip was to share experiences and to see first hand what these cities do to cope with the international emergency.
