Representatives from over 20 cities around the world are taking part in the first edition of Barcelona Resilience Week. From 14 to 18 March, the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site becomes a global meeting place for debate among cities and companies which stand out in the creation and development of the most resilient communities in the world.

Barcelona Resilience Week, the first event of this type to be held at a worldwide level, aims to give a voice to cities and bring them together to tackle common challenges, providing a chance to exchange practical knowledge and good practice in resilience at a worldwide level.

The meeting, organised within the framework of collaboration with the UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP), will address themes such as water management, urban infrastructures to resist disasters, successful formulas to strengthen the involvement of key agents, social resilience and the city’s response to the challenges arising from migration and the refugee crisis.

Barcelona as the object of study

A resilient city is able to plan and anticipate risk via preventative action and modify the conditions which allow it to evolve towards a specific city model. Barcelona is currently working on eighteen urban resilience projects aimed at preparing the city for exceptional situations.

Barcelona’s model is based on the following action: analysing risk via a platform which allows city issues to be studied, risk management using an operations centre open 24 hours a day every day of the year and the reduction of risk via resilience meetings which get projects up and running in order to introduce improvements.

The municipal government is aiming to boost and prioritise resilience projects geared towards the most vulnerable citizens and groups and include citizen participation in its projects. This new stage will also include a long-term plan for resilience and adaptation to climate change.

For all the latest news relating to Barcelona Resilience Week follow the Twitter account @CityResilience and join the conversation using the hashtag #BCNResilience16.