One of the core objectives of the Strategic Planning Area is to spearhead a strategic metropolitan reflection in order to move towards metropolitan actions coordinated with strategies.
One core goal of strategic planning is to suggest a set of axes which facilitate the definition and territorial distribution of the metropolitan policies. Currently, with the drafting of the Urban Developing Steering Plan (PDU) underway, it is essential to define the strategic axes which the metropolitan policy will develop.
After the reflection undertaken in the period 2011-2014, the DREAM project – which stands for metropolitan diagnosis, reflection, strategy and actions – is crucial to construct the AMB's metropolitan stories.
The goal is to activate strategies shared with the metropolitan municipalities. The DREAM projects, in turn, has 3 major axes of activity: territorial and social cohesion; urban metabolism, with the impact of the energy transition, climate change and biodiversity; and governance.
After the reflection undertaken in the period 2011-2014, the DREAM project – which stands for metropolitan diagnosis, reflection, strategy and actions – is crucial to construct the AMB's metropolitan stories.
The goal is to activate strategies shared with the metropolitan municipalities. The DREAM projects, in turn, has 3 major axes of activity: territorial and social cohesion; urban metabolism, with the impact of the energy transition, climate change and biodiversity; and governance.
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Strengthening metropolitan governance: The DREAM project
From the perspective of a resilient territory that is open to changes, we must start by developing an overall story which includes the need to organise metropolitan actions around risks. This is why the DREAM Project was proposed.
The goal is to undertake an initial diagnosis organised around risks in order to establish a reflection on the metropolitan system, viewed as a complex, adaptive urban system which requires a territorial and governing position, and based on that establish a strategy to subsequently define the metropolitan actions which must be executed. An open series of metropolitan stories were organised which should become the seed of the metropolitan area's future policies.
The goal is to develop different stories that start from a resilient diagnosis of risks and to help shape metropolitan strategies based on a series of actions which are already being carried out and shall serve as the groundwork for defining future strategic policies.
In this stage, one of the core considerations of strategic planning is to propose strategic axes which should lead to the definition and distribution territorial of metropolitan policies in the near future. What is more, in this stage of developing the metropolitan PDU, it is essential to previously define strategic axes for a metropolitan policy.
It is important to consider that this reflection was limited in the period 1987-2010. In the previous mandate, 2011-2014, it focused on developing an initial agenda which contained the practices of the different services – called the Strategic Metropolitan Reflection (REM) – in order to later take a step towards defining axes of metropolitan policies, which started with the story of the current Metropolitan Action Plan (PAM) from the 2015-2019 mandate. Furthermore, contributions were collected from the 9 metropolitan regions where participation and evaluation sessions of the strategic avenues of the PAM were held.
Additional information came from the studies commissioned to the IERMB in conjunction with different areas of the AMB as part of the programme contract, as well as the different reflection committees in the Strategic Planning Area (Transition to Sustainable Mobility Committee, Energy Transition Committee, Socioecological Conflicts Committee).
The stories were organised around the scheme of risks in order to establish and organise the different actions in the region. To develop them, a SWOT analysis was conducted for each risk in conjunction with the metropolitan services affected and the corresponding areas.-
DREAM Volumes
The first list of DREAM stories was preceded by an initial publication which is entitled DREAM 1: Strategic Metropolitan Reflection for a Resilient Region. The DREAMs to be published in the initial phase are the following:
DREAM 2: Circular economy in the AMB
DREAM 3: Waste management in the AMB
DREAM 4: Metropolitan agriculture in the AMB
DREAM 5: Energy transition in the AMB
DREAM 6: Housing and social rights in the AMB
DREAM 7: Housing and urban and energy renewal in the AMB
DREAM 8: Cooperation and international relations in the AMB
DREAM 9: Socioecological conflicts and participation in the AMB
DREAM 10: Transparency and good governance in the AMB
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DREAM Volumes
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Metropolitan strategies
The most intense work in conjunction with the different areas was undertaken in the following strategies:
- Circular economy
- Metropolitan agriculture
- Energy transition
- Transition to sustainable mobility
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Circular economy strategy
The Strategic Planning Area has spearheaded a Circular Economy Programme which entailed cooperating with the Economic and Social Development Area and the Environment Area, along with the County Council of Baix Llobregat, the Barcelona Town Hall and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
In the first stage, a Metropolitan Circular Economy Programme was developed, which poses three strategies:
- Industrial symbiosis
- Agro-urban synergies
- Waste Resource Project
Industrial Symbiosis Programme
Industrial symbiosis is a tool to apply the concepts of the circular economy to industry. Industrial symbiosis should be understood as the practice of companies from different sectors joining forces to identify business opportunities that maintain the value of the resources used within the economic system in a perpetual productive cycle that eliminates waste. Municipalities are a key player, since they are the promoters that spearhead the initiatives.
The Industrial Symbiosis Programme executed by the Social and Economic Development Area has already created a Circular Resources Platform which contains the following services:
- Experts in the circular economy
- Good business practices
- Regional and business projects
Agro-forest synergy: Circular economy in the municipalities of the Ordal. Local Agro-Ecological Dynamisation
The objective of this project is to conduct an agro-ecological diagnosis of the agricultural potential, the use of the forest biomass and silvopasture in Muntanyes del Baix. It is centred in Torrelles de Llobregat to gain information which first enables an action plan for the agro-ecological transition in the town to be developed, and then allows this plan to be extrapolated to the entire Muntanyes del Baix system. This is a theoretical and methodological proposal whose goal is to increase agricultural practices which are sustainable from an ecological, social and economic perspective.
A circular economy programme has been promoted in cooperation with the AMB's Territory Area and the County Council of Baix Llobregat, which entailed an investment of 3 million euros from the open call for applications in the Action Programme in Natural and Urban Landscapes (PSG). This enabled eight municipalities in the Muntanyes del Baix to build biomass furnaces and to programme and exploit local forest stands which lead to a decline in the risk of fire.
Muntanyes del Baix
Circular economy in the municipalities of the Ordal
Waste Resource Project
In conjunction with the Environment Area, the Barcelona Town Hall, Barcelona Activa and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), a Waste Resource Programme was implemented which entailed coordination with the Strategic Circular Economy Plan of Barcelona and the Recircula HUB UPC-AMB project. The objective is to promote the creation of multidisciplinary teams at the university which develop waste/resource projects. The first stage focused on plastics.
This event has the support of the AMB via an agreement with the UPC's Recircula HUB. The winning projects will have the support of Barcelona Activa's entrepreneurship programmes, which include a circular economy module. The Barcelona Town Hall is promoting the Bon Pastor estate as an innovative circular economy space for the metropolitan region of Barcelona.
Recircula HUB UPC-AMB project -
Metropolitan agriculture strategy
Two thematic series around the Socioecological Conflicts Committee associated with restoring farming were developed:
- Preserving farming
- Muntanyes del Baix agriculture
Along with the County Council of Baix Llobregat and FAPAC, the AMB's Strategic Planning Area has spearheaded the "Cuina Climàtica" (Climatic Cooking) project on short food supply chains and school dining rooms, which is accompanying 15 schools in 10 municipalities in the transition to local, ecological products for 2,785 children.
Different studies were conducted with the team from the IGOP-UAB, which delivers the specialisation course on agro-ecological dynamisation. Technicians from the AMB from Territory-Open Spaces, from the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat Consortium and from different municipalities (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Feliu, Torrelles de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Sant Cugat and Barcelona, among others) participated in these studies, which include:
Short food supply chains in the Parc Agrari
The development of short food supply chains can be an important tool in the agro-ecological transition, with a great deal of potential for development at a time when an increasing part of the Catalan population values fresh, local products. The objectives of the study are to assess the potentialities generated by this channel for the ecological sector of the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, to contribute to updated knowledge on the short food supply chains used by the farmers in the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, and to explore the potentialities that can come from supplying school dining rooms as yet another channel of commercialisation in the Parc Agrari, in addition to assessing the steps that should be taken to encourage a participative dynamisation process which concludes with the design of an action plan to implement it in one or several municipalities.
Short food supply chains in the Parc Agrari
Promotion of the agro-ecological transition in Collserola
The objective of the study is to foster the transformation of the food system within the sphere of influence of the Nature Plan of the Serra de Collserola Mountains (PNSC) in order to make it more equitable and sustainable. In the first phase, a technical diagnosis of the situation of farmers and agrarian activity conducted within the limits of the PNSC was conducted. The concept of agro-ecological transition is defined as the step away from economic, social and political systems that preserve privileges, foster inequalities and prey on nature and towards ecologically healthy and sustainable, economically viable and socially just systems. From this perspective, the notion of ecological transition refers to the transformations which can occur simultaneously at different scales (farm, local society and greater society) and in different dimensions (ecological, socioeconomic and cultural, socio-political).
Promotion of the agro-ecological transition in Collserola
Agro-ecological analysis in the Muntanyes del Baix. Local agro-ecological dynamisation
The diagnostic report found that transition and innovation do not entail indeterminately developing different technologies but instead revisiting former practices and, with the benefits provided by existing technological practices, generating hybrids that enable the relationship and bonds with the ecosystems to be recovered. Agriculture, logging and silvopasture are practices with a great deal of potential which fall within this approach.
Agro-ecological diagnosis in the Muntanyes del Baix. Local agro-ecological dynamisation
The activities promoted include the following:
- Participation in the circular economy biomass project in the Muntanyes del Baix.
- Promotion of the short food supply and school dining room project, Cuina Climàtica (Climatic Cooking).
- Development of the Local Food Exchange Centre (CIAP) project.
- Articulation of the Barcelona-AMB Farmers' Markets.
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Energy transition strategy
An Energy Transition Committee was created which entailed cooperation with municipalities in the metropolitan area that are well into the energy transition (Viladecans, El Prat de Llobregat, Sant Cugat, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Barcelona, among others) in order to develop a metropolitan strategy to introduce renewable energies in cooperation with the Energy and Climate Plan developed by the Environment Area.
A regional strategic plan on the introduction of renewable wind and photovoltaic energies was developed in cooperation with the Renewable Energy Plan of the Environment Area, as contained in the DREAM: Energy transition in the AMB.
Energy transition in the metropolitan area. Reflection document
This metropolitan initiative, with a supramunicipal vision to ascertain municipalities' energy reality and spearhead energy transition measures in a coordinated, efficient fashion, took shape in the creation of a metropolitan committee for a new energy model. The reflection document states that the local administration, and specifically the AMB, may not have the capacity to declare energy a public service but can develop its energy-related policies and, for example, develop creative proposals, and that the sectoral policies should be interrelated and integrated in order to take advantage of synergies. The purpose is to get energy, as a public service, to have characteristics such as that it should be supplied as an essential service for the community, it should be universally accessible to the population, its cost should be adapted to the income level of the different population strata, and it should generate a low socioenvironmental impact, both locally and globally. The use of the necessary legislative, economic, technological, political and administrative tools is recommended to achieve this purpose.
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Transition to sustainable mobility strategy
In conjunction with the Mobility Area, a Transition to Sustainable Mobility Committee was created, which issued four benchmark studies:
Transition to sustainable mobility. Committee on Infrastructures for a Transition to Sustainable Mobility
An evaluation was conducted of the different strategies for a transition to sustainable mobility which takes shape in the actions of restricting private vehicles and the needs to improve the railway infrastructures in order to ensure modal transfers. The overarching objectives of a new vision of the public transport infrastructure are more equitable mobility with less difference between people who live close to or far from the urban centres and individuals with low purchasing power; more efficient mobility which prioritises systems that consume less energy and have a lower impact on people; healthier mobility, which facilitates the implementation of the low-emissions zone; and more economically sustainable mobility.
Transition to sustainable mobility
Analysis of the Bus Lines in the Second Metropolitan Ring
An evaluation was made of the investment priorities to improve the accessibility of the municipalities in the outer ring of the AMB via surface public transport. The study compiles the characteristics of the current lines and the concession system of the services; it analyses the connections among the outermost municipalities, radial connections and urban carrying lines (which carry passengers to other lines); and it makes proposals in relation to the Baix Llobregat corridor, the orbital lines and improvements in the service of the outer ring.
Regional study of bus lines
Mobility Studies Related to Issues of Equal Opportunity, Gender, Accessibility and Poverty Level
A new methodology has been created to evaluate the lack of accessibility in transport by gender and type of user. With this methodology, the inaccessibility of the different metropolitan corridors (R4, N-150, C-31, C-245) has been assessed in order to evaluate the investment priorities in infrastructures.
Study of the Correlation between Pollution and Facilities
The indicators and social parameters of the impact of air pollution on the health of the population in the metropolitan region of Barcelona was developed and evaluated, along with the need to implement measures to lower this pollution, in cooperation with the Environment Area. -
Waste management strategy
A study on waste was promoted in order to implement policies to increase recyclable waste: Social parameters to improve the waste collection service of the population in the metropolitan area of Barcelona in cooperation with the Metropolitan Municipal Waste Management Plan of the Environment Area. Also worth noting is the publication of the DREAM: Waste management in the metropolitan area.
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Resilience strategy
The publication DREAM: Resilience in the metropolitan area of Barcelona was published, and the project DREAM: Dialogues on Resilience was launched and implemented in different places within the metropolitan area.
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Metropolitan Neighbourhoods Project
Based on an initial study commissioned to the Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies of Barcelona (IERMB), the municipal neighbourhoods which the municipalities declare to have (485 municipal neighbourhoods) were registered. In this way, we now have a database of the municipal neighbourhoods which the municipalities in the metropolitan area recognise.
Based on this, the Strategic Planning Area is developing a project to define municipal neighbourhoods which is the grouping of municipal neighbourhoods, which generates a total of 249 municipal neighbourhoods (73 neighbourhoods in Barcelona + 176 metropolitan neighbourhoods in the remaining 35 municipalities). Based on this groundwork, indicators (around 35 of them) around five topics will be developed to evaluate how the neighbourhoods operate: economic development, social cohesion, gender equality, environmental sustainability and quality of life (7 indicators per topic).
These indicators shall be determined by mutual agreement with the areas and services of the AMB and the institutions that generate data (IERMB, BCNRegional, BCNEcologia, Barcelona Provincial Council, Metropolitan Housing Observatory, etc). It is suggested that they be revised every year, two years or mandate. -
Socioecological conflicts committee
A series of discussion committees organised around the different socioecological conflicts in the AMB were solidified with the goal of pooling the expertise of the actors within society with the participation of those who take part in the decision-making process.
The participation of civil society organisations implies more citizen intervention, which will bring more reflection and openness with the aim of devising collective actions with alternative visions of social organisation and of the production and consumption processes.
The committees established are:
- Committee 1. Common goods linked to the land: Rur-urban spaces in the metropolitan area.
- Committee 2. Common goods linked to everyday life. Anthropic urban planning: rights and services.
- Committee 3. Common goods linked to free-time and health: Protection of spaces with ecological value in the metropolitan area.
- Committee 4. Common goods of the urban metabolism: Public management of metabolic cycles.
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Map of socioecological conflicts
A map has been made of the actors and socioecological conflicts in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area which has enabled a preliminary X-ray of conflicts and actors to be made:
Map of socioecological actors. Socioecological systems in the Barcelona metropolitan region
The study suggests a mapping of the different socioecological systems in the metropolitan region of Barcelona and its sphere of influence which would enable the regional dynamics, the actors involved and their strategies to be located, described and contextualised in space. In order to develop the map, different experts and platforms or entities were identified which are related to the metropolitan area, without this relationship necessarily matching its geographic boundaries, since because of its unique features socioecological dynamics stretch beyond these boundaries. -
Thematic series
In the first phase, three thematic series corresponding to Committees 1, 2 and 3 were already held.
In the second phase, these thematic series were held:
a) The preservation of metropolitan agriculture (committee 1).
b) The preservation of the water network in a scenario of hydric stress and extreme rain events (committee 4).
Debate and participation committees on socioecological conflicts
In accordance with the map of actors related to socioecological conflicts, it was found that in a significant number of cases, the platforms and movements provide elements and reflections for social innovation as generators of expert knowledge. Interesting contributions for regional planning can come via the interaction among experts, specialists, land managers and socioenvironmental movements.
It was proposed to create a series of discussion committees around the different socioecological conflicts present in the AMB, organised into series of 4 sessions in order to encourage encounters between the expertise of the actors in civil society organisations in view of the conflicts and the actors who take part in the decision-making process.
Committee 1:
Common goods linked to the land: Rur-urban spaces in the metropolitan area.
Committee 2:
Common goods linked to everyday life: Anthropic urban planning in the metropolitan area.
Committee 3:
Common goods linked to free-time and health: Spaces with ecological value in the metropolitan area.
Committee 4:
Common goods of the urban metabolism: Metabolic cycles in the metropolitan area (currently being prepared).
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DREAM dialogues on resilience
The DREAM Dialogues are a governance laboratory, a framework of reflection/action in which representatives of the administrations, politicians and economic and social stakeholders participate, aimed at defining metropolitan actions from the resilient design perspective. In this sense, the goal is to go from the systems of public policies traditionally executed by themes (that is, by authorities that are usually isolated and constructed based on linear stories) to the governance of systems or regions meant as socioecological systems which behave as complex adaptive systems (open and unpredictable, yet at the same time flexible and adaptive).
This collective reflection from the strategic and specific vision, as part of the public policies underway, will help reveal the engines of change emerging in the regions of the AMB chosen to be the first case studies. -
AMB - IERMB studies contract programme
The assignments to the Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies of Barcelona (IERMB)-AMB contract programme with the different areas of the AMB have increased. The initial contract worth €1,020,000 with the Strategic Planning Area (2015) was joined by a total of €428,604 on assignment from the different areas, which means a total of €1,448,604 (2019). This reveals the different areas' interest in the IERMB as a resource to produce results.
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Promotion of coordination between the Strategic Planning Area and the action programme axis associated with objectives and actions on social and territorial cohesion
A series of studies were generated to align the different social cohesion and housing strategies, as outlined below:
SOCIAL COHESION
System of metropolitan social cohesion indicators (SIMCOS) 2016
The objective of this study is to construct a stable system of indicators which provide an annual snapshot of the population's status and needs in terms of social cohesion in each of the municipalities comprising the metropolitan area of Barcelona and as a whole.
Inclusive growth from an urban perspective: A challenge for the metropolitan area of Barcelona
Exploration of the relationships between economic activity and evolution of inequality in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The goal is to describe the new expansive production and employment cycle to determine whether it corresponds to the inclusive growth model or, to the contrary, whether it focuses on the quest for competitiveness via competitive devaluation.
Post-crisis scenario and metropolitan social structure. Vulnerabilities and coverage of needs from a class perspective
Study on how the post-crisis scenario is taking shape in terms of social cohesion in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and Catalonia; to observe the real effects of the crisis in terms of social structure while ascertaining the risks that the different social classes are currently facing during these early years of economic reactivation; to ascertain the volume of the population that currently has an income level near the threshold of the risk of poverty; and to analyse what part of this population is receiving aid from the social protection system and what their needs are.
Local attention to poverty and social inequality in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
The objective of this study is to examine urgent social assistance in the metropolitan area of Barcelona with a twofold purpose. First, it seeks to offer a diagnosis of the action taken by the local entities within the metropolitan area – and by other higher-level administrations, if applicable – in the guise of economic benefits aimed at responding to the population's social need in recent years. Secondly, it aims to work on a proposal to harmonise the existing programmes around the region, with the prime goal of weighing the feasibility of a metropolitan-wide complementary income and to simulate its potential effects in terms of social and urban cohesion.
Social and political innovation, institutional density and urban vulnerability in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
Deepening the relations established between social innovation, political innovation, institutional density and urban vulnerability in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. In order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the causes of urban vulnerability, an explanatory analysis of the phenomenon was made based on its relationship with different indicators related to the concept of institutional density.
Metropolitan spaces: Design and use practices
This project conducts an analysis of urban quality and social uses of space with recommendations to improve the inhabitability of vulnerable spaces.
The metropolitan area in 100 indicators. The metropolitan area of Barcelona in figures, 2017
Selection of the most important indicators in the system of metropolitan indicators of Barcelona (SIMBA), the web platform of statistical services of the IERMB (https://iermbdb.uab.cat). This includes 100 indicators, each with their own page where all the cases are outlined in a brief informative summary, in addition to graphics and tables which illustrated the developmental dynamics and municipal areas.
Georeferenced database of AMB facilities
Identification and delimitation of the facilities existing in the municipalities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, excluding the city of Barcelona; compilation of information on the facilities in terms of both the characteristics of the service and their urban features; identification of the land set aside for facilities and cataloguing of their urban features.
Urban form and social cohesion: Criteria for greater urban equity in residential areas
This provides a more in-depth look at how urban inequalities are articulated from the standpoint of the residential structure, in order for criteria to be established aimed at lowering them through either urban planning or urban policies.
HOUSING
The following DREAMs were published:
DREAM Housing and social rights in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
DREAM Housing and energy renewal in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
The following studies were promoted:
Study of the evaluation of the needs for energy rehabilitation and situations of energy poverty in Santa Coloma de Gramenet
This is a pilot study of the needs for energy rehabilitation and energy poverty using a methodology that combines the examination of data from the land registry with the assignment of energy demand values devised in the research team's models and under different scenarios (different kinds of homes and energy prices, among other indicators).
Identification of the energy rehabilitation needs in the housing stock in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
This report is a continuation of previous projects in the sphere of strategic municipal planning on the energy renovation of buildings: Sant Cugat and Santa Coloma. In this case, the methodology developed and tested in these projects was used to analyse the building stock in order to identify the needs for energy renovation in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and to generate prioritisation criteria when carrying out actions of this kind. The sphere of study encompassed 568 census districts in 22 municipalities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (which are the site of approximately 32,282 buildings and 279,400 homes). Specifically, these are homes located in areas defined as having significant or many deficits. -
Promotion of studies on the economic reality in the metropolitan area with coordination and support of the Social and Economic Development Area
By mutual agreement between the Strategic Planning Area and the Social and Economic Development Area, a series of studies was conducted by the IERMB to support the cooperative, social and collaborative economy strategies; the productive economy and innovation; and the circular economy, as outlined below.
- Cooperate, social and collaborative economy
The social and socially-conscious economy in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
Objectives of the study:
1) To collect data on initiatives related to the social and socially-conscious economy (SSE) in the metropolitan area (especially the third social sector and community economies), as well as qualitative information on the municipal policies supporting SSE.
2) To analyse cooperative local ecosystems.
3) To gain knowledge of the SSE initiatives in the Besòs Axis in order to systematise and enhance their contributions to diminishing regional and social fractures.- Productive economy and innovation
Analysis of local environmental innovation: Description and support policies
In the first phase, this study measures the capacity for innovation in environmental policies in the metropolitan and functional area of Barcelona based on a set of indicators constructed on databases on European patents. The analysis of the innovations in environmental technologies registered in the metropolitan region of Barcelona is complemented with a Europe-wide comparison of the leading innovative regions in order to conduct a technological benchmarking exercise.
Analysis of the Regional Specialisation and Competitiveness Projects (PECT) in the metropolitan area. Analysis of the metropolitan area and its closest environs submitted to the call for applications of the department of GAPH of the Government of Catalonia
Analysis of sectoral specialisations and transversal programmes defined in the Regional Specialisation and Competitiveness Projects (PECT) of the metropolitan area and its environs, and summary and considerations in relation to the specialisation of the metropolitan area of Barcelona and its closest environs in relation to the Regional Specialisation and Competitiveness Projects (PECT).
Estimate of the GDP of Barcelona and the metropolitan area of Barcelona
The objective of this study is to overcome the restrictions of an agglomeration effect static in time. It considers the dynamic variations of the economy of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. Specifically, the study evaluates this improvement based on salary information from Barcelona, the metropolitan area and Catalonia. The hypothesis formulated is that the salary differential – sector by sector – in each of the economies studied partly reflects a differential in sectoral productivity. This differential, which varies year by year, is the outcome of the dynamic of the effect of agglomeration on the economy of Barcelona and the AMB compared to Catalonia as a whole.
Location of productive activity and local productive specialisations in the metropolitan region of Barcelona
This project further analyses the distribution of economic activity and innovation; it updates the analysis of the trends in the location of productive activity and expands the territorial scope to the entire metropolitan region of Barcelona. The study seeks to reach a highly precise level of detail in order to identify the leading agents (companies) in innovation and competitiveness, and it analyses productive and technological specialisation. -
Taking a systematic approach to the socioeconomic and spatial data on the metropolitan area and region of Barcelona coordinated by the IERMB
The following surveys by the IERMB were maintained and improved: Survey on Living Conditions, Survey on Victimisation, Survey on Workday Mobility (EMEF).
Mobility surveys
Mobility surveys are a statistical instrument which yields information on how and why the population gets around, while also serving as tools to analyse trends for mobility planning. Based on the data they provide, mobility patterns can be analysed according to the characteristics of the population and the different regions.
Surveys of peaceful coexistence and urban safety
The metropolitan information system on peaceful coexistence and urban safety are comprised of two main data sources which are articulated in order to provide information at different territorial scales on victimisation, the perception of safety, citizens' relationship with the penal system, peaceful coexistence and neighbourly relations. This information system is fed by the Survey on Victimisation in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (EVAMB) and the Survey on Neighbourly Relations and Peaceful Coexistence in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (ECAMB).
Surveys on social and urban cohesion
The new integrated metropolitan information system on social and urban cohesion is comprised of a set of data sources which are articulated to provide information at different territorial scales on social stratification, social and urban inequalities, income distribution, risk of poverty and exclusion, socio-residential differentiation and socio-territorial processes. This information system is comprised of the Metropolitan Statistics on Living Conditions (EMCV), the Urban Cohesion Survey (ECURB) and the mining of the administrative records.
Worth noting is the importance of going from a five-year version of the Survey on Living Conditions to an annual version in conjunction with IDESCAT and the Barcelona Town Hall.
A series of summaries of the most important research and studies by the IERMB were developed for the IERMB annual reports:
Rethinking the metropolitan area: New keys for a collective project. Metropolitan area of Barcelona annual report 2016
This publication contains new reflections which are the outcome of the most recent research conducted throughout 2016 by the IERMB teams which analyse the urban, socioeconomic and environmental dynamics shaping the metropolitan reality today.
The right to a metropolitan area. Yearbook of the metropolitan area of Barcelona 2017
These are reflections stemming from the studies conducted throughout 2017 by the IERMB team. It is a volume made up of 15 chapters, with studies that provide up-to-date information on the main social, economic and ecological dynamics shaping the metropolitan area of Barcelona today.
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Promotion of coordination between the Strategic Planning Area and the action programme axis associated with objectives and actions on social and territorial cohesion
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Barcelona Strategic Metropolitan Plan (PEMB)
An update of the PEMB was implemented which features a reorientation towards a new strategic plan for 2030 and a series of activities around the region with the "Racó de Repensar" (Rethinking Corner), along with a series of strategic projects, including the Food Charter.
Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan 2030
The Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan opens up a new shared reflection process to include all the proposals being made by public and private entities and citizens.
The core of this plan should be promoting social and economic progress based on innovation and sustainability as a mechanism to lower inequalities and spatial segregation in the metropolitan region. In order to develop this new plan, the proposal is to work around three main strands: the resilient metropolitan area, the prosperous metropolitan area and the cohesive metropolitan area.
The Metropolitan Food Charter
The Metropolitan Food Charter is the adaptation of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact to Barcelona.
The Metropolitan Food Charter is fed by:
- Diverse literature on global and local food systems
- The major international agendas and pacts on food systems and food
- Milan Pact
- Sustainable Development Goals
- United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025
- The consensuses of the working committees of the Group to Drive Food Policies
- The consensuses with the different control groups in the quadruple helix:
- Public administration
- Private sector/food clusters
- Universities and research centres
- Civil society/citizen platforms
The objectives of the Metropolitan Food Charter are:
- To share information on and expand the commitments of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact beyond the city of Barcelona.
- To bring a metropolitan dimension to food policies and give them consistency around the entire metropolitan area via the common framework of the Charter.
- To establish a series of commitments and projects aimed at increasing the positive impacts of the metropolitan food system and to lower the negative impacts.
The project Metropolitan reflections to spearhead sustainable mobility was promoted with the PEMB. It included a series of sessions on:
- The relationship of private vehicles and the metropolitan region of Barcelona
- Urgent infrastructures to improve railway transport
- Coordinating and promoting collective surface transport
- Management of the transport of goods in the metropolitan region of Barcelona
Session held at the College of Technical Civil Engineers of Catalonia