Skip to main content
< Back to news
From left to righ: Francesc Raventós, Janet Sanz, Ada Colau, Oriol Estela and Maria Terrades (Photo: PEMB).
 28.11.2018

Maria Terrades participates in the institutional event celebrating the 30th anniversary of the PEMB

Held under the slogan “30 years planning the Barcelona of the Future”, the 13th General Assembly of the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona (PEMB) took place yesterday. The meeting coincided with the 30th anniversary celebration of the drafting of the first plan, the Barcelona Economic and Social Strategic Plan 2000. The event, chaired by the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, was also attended by the director of the Barcelona Science Park ( Parc Científic de Barcelona, PCB), Maria Terrades, who highlighted the decisive role of science and technology parks in the economic progress of the metropolis.

 

The event marking the 30th anniversary of the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona (#30anyspemb), which was held in Barcelona City Hall’s Saló de Cent, was attended by some 100 people. The mayor Ada Colau, chair of the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona (PEMB) Association, opened proceedings by reminding the attendees of the PEMB’s raison d’être, which has not changed since its foundation; namely, that the PEMB is a shared exercise in reflection and proposal; an act of shared responsibility in building the future of the metropolis. “We must consider the new challenges facing us, and re-think and re-launch the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona”, stated Colau. “We also need to think beyond the metropolitan area of Barcelona and start talking about the metropolitan region, as this is what the territory is asking for and it is a real requirement”, she added.

Then, Francesc Raventós, first chair of the Executive Committee of the Economic and Social Strategic Plan of Barcelona, spoke of the importance of public-private collaboration in the development of strategic plans for the metropolis: “In times as complicated and difficult as those we find ourselves in, metropolitan Barcelona needs its organisations and institutions to participate in a detailed dialogue about the future of the city, defining a common project and some objectives, strategies and actions that will help it become a reality. Public-private collaboration has been a capital base in moving Barcelona forward, and this must continue to be the case”, he stressed.

Afterwards, the director of Barcelona Science Park, Maria Terrades, explained what science and technology parks offer the metropolis: “It has been calculated that each employee working in so-called “innovative” fields, such as those we have at Barcelona Science Park, creates five additional jobs in their sector. Therefore, the impact on the city of the creation of “innovative” jobs is clear for all to see”. She also underlined the importance of the fact that a relatively large number of women are working for “innovative” companies in the health sector: “Looking at Barcelona Science Park in particular, out of the 2,700 employees, 54% are women and 46% are men. However, despite this, these figures are very different in managerial positions”. Terrades also called for greater institutional support in a world in which we are increasingly talking about cities and less about regions: “Science, technology and innovation must be supported by hubs so that Barcelona, with its area of influence, can continue to be a city that can compete on a global scale in terms of attracting and generating wealth”.

Homage was paid to two people during the 30th anniversary celebration: to former mayor Pasqual Maragall, as the inspiration behind the Plan; and to Francesc Santacana, as general coordinator of the PEMB for 25 years. The ceremony also saw the allocation of the Francesc Santacana grant for urban research projects, this year awarded to the architect and sociologist Giovanni Guida Piqueras for his project on housing access models for vulnerable people.

Finally, the chair of the Executive Committee of the PEMB and fourth deputy mayor, Janet Sanz, presented the proposal entitled “Towards a new strategic metropolitan plan”, which will serve as the foundation to create the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona for the year 2030.

►More information about the event “30 years planning the Barcelona of the future” is available on the PEMB website [+]