Barcelona will be one of the cities where there will be a debate about what cities should be like in the future. This is the main goal of turning the city into the world capital of architecture.
"This will not be a discussion exclusively for architects, there is already a UIA congress for this, which is professional. We must open it to all disciplines and to citizens. We must involve the entire network of associations, FAD, CCCB, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the Miro Foundation, all architectural schools and new groups such as cooperatives. We have a lot of work to do," explains Assumpció Puig, dean of the Association of Architects of Catalonia (COAC), one of the organizers of the Barcelona nomination, which defeated Beijing by a margin of 147 votes in the elections on July 28.
The World Capital of Cities is a new type of event held jointly by the ISA and UNESCO with the aim of putting cities at the center of environmental and urban development problems, as well as migration flows targeted them in a large part of the world. It was launched by Rio de Janeiro in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. Copenhagen will host it in 2023, and Barcelona in 2026. Barcelona already has experience in organizing events related to architecture. In 1996, also under the auspices of the ISA, the congress "Present and Future: Architecture in Cities" was held in the capital, which brought together more than 10,000 participants of the congress from 87 countries.
There is no predetermined scenario of what it means to be the world capital of architecture. In the case of Barcelona, both the City Council and COAC agree that it is important for citizens to participate in this, because architecture and urban planning go far beyond the definition of buildings and urban areas. "They are a social tool of the first order, which includes environmental protection, sustainable development and the restoration of the idea of the city as a place for the development of a life project," says Javi Matilla, chief architect of the Barcelona City Council.