Over a hundred local, national and international voices come together from 13 to 16 April for Barcelona ReAct, a major event to rethink how to build a more resilient, competitive and sustainable city.
The Deputy Mayor for the Economy, Labor, Competitiveness and Finance of the Barcelona City Council, Jaume Collboni, and the international expert in urban development Greg Clark, in his capacity as chairman of the event’s advisory council, presented on March 17 the conference Barcelona ReAct, which will offer a wide range of actors representing trends and social movements with which the city wants to establish synergies and share the economic recovery project for the coming years.
For Collboni, “this event, which wants to be the days of the people, will be a litmus test that we will successfully overcome as a city because it is already showing that Barcelona has the capacity, the courage, the ideas and the values that make up the DNA of the city to emerge stronger from this crisis “. “We want it to be the reference event in the economic, scientific and research world of the city, in a format that we can make 100% virtual or hybrid, but as a public administration and that we have to lead the reactivation, we have found it essential to generate spaces for that this symbiosis and collective empowerment take place to do it well and without leaving anyone behind to get out of this crisis”.
Goals for Barcelona ReAct
The main goal of Barcelona ReAct is to explain the new economic agenda for Barcelona for the next decade, the Barcelona Green Deal. This roadmap sets out the vision for competitive and sustainable economic promotion, including projects such as the future of the 22@, the transformation of the Olympic Port, the urgent and much-needed economic relaunch of the city centre, making it more balanced and resilient, and projects linked to the consolidation of the city’s role as a global capital.
The event will also be used to share the agenda for the economic transformation with the public, with international experts and the main global operators, reaffirming Barcelona as a global city for investment, the development of life projects, professional careers, research and the creation of international talent.
Rethinking the city from all spheres
The meeting entails an exchange of projects and an analysis of the impact and evolution of major sectors in the economic recovery, such as:
- Technology and innovation
- New mobility
- Green economy
- Digital health and science initiatives
- Blue economy (sustainable and linked to water and the sea)
- Industry 4.0
- Creative industries
- Visitor economy
- Smart food revolution
Other cities’ experiences will also be shared with the aim of developing a network of resilient metropolises. Barcelona ReAct will conclude with a manifesto setting out ten key points for reactivating the city, a guide for the city’s economic future.
Voices of reflection
Notable speakers at the event include the sociologist and creator of the concept of the global city, Saskia Sassen; the urban planner and advisor to cities around the world, Greg Clark; the director of the ISE, the world’s largest audio-visual fair, Michael Blackman: the expert in climate action and founding member of Greenpeace, Remi Parmentier; the CEO of EIT Urban Mobility, Maria Tsavachidis, and the UN special envoy for the ocean, Peter Thomson.
Sessions forming part of the programme for Barcelona ReAct adopt a hybrid format (on-site and online), with notable socio-economic and cultural stakeholders participating.