Bilbao

Bilbao, with around 350.000 inhabitants, is the capital of Biscay and the economic, social and cultural centre of the Basque Country. Due to the profound crisis in the 80s that affected its fundamental economic sectors (metallurgy, steel and naval), the city needed to reinvent itself and face great challenges: high rates of unemployment, environmental and urban degradation, strong internal emigration and the emergence of social marginalisation issues. Bilbao was able to achieve a transformation thanks to local political management, public-private and inter-institutional cooperation, and its success was acknowledged on the world stage: the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (2010), the European Public Sector Award (EPSA) 2011 for the project “Political Management based on Financial Rigor and Strategic Budgets”, culminating in the World Mayor award bestowed on mayor D. Iñaki Azkuna in 2012.

Bilbao is living its second revolution at the moment, with new trials linked to the opening of the city towards the world and the consolidation of a social cohesive city. On one hand, the city hopes to be internationally competitive, and on the other hand wants to manage its own diversity (presently 7.7 % of the population are foreigners) as a capital for new ideas, culture and forms of understanding life, capable of contributing new social and economic opportunities.

Similar to other European cities that have developed successful strategies trough the creative management of diversity, the city hall of Bilbao designed and executed the Municipal Plan for Diversity Management BI-OPEN (2011-2013) to construct a city that is educative in values of coexistence and open to diversity. In its evaluation, the result of citizen participation (both natives and foreigners) and the participation of RECI enabled the design of a Local Strategy of Diversity Management, the execution of which is scheduled for the coming years. The final objective: fostering integration, social cohesion and coexistence from an intercultural perspective.

BilbaoResults of the Intercultural Cities Index

Esta web utiliza cookies propias y de terceros para su correcto funcionamiento y para fines analíticos. Al hacer clic en el botón Aceptar, aceptas el uso de estas tecnologías y el procesamiento de tus datos para estos propósitos. Más información
Privacidad