Barcelona and Madrid: two cities, one same underlying question

This week, A Coruña has made an unusual decision: to renounce being a host city for the 2030 World Cup. "We were fully capable, but this implies organizational and investment demands," explained its mayor, to make it clear that the city is not willing to be one "at any price." It is not, therefore, a question of capabilities, but of model. Of what kind of city one wants to be. A question that, on another scale, has hovered over the start of the Barcelona/Madrid 2050 cycle. A cycle promoted by the Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona that seeks to reflect on the future of both cities by 2050.

To what extent are Barcelona and Madrid different? The debate between these two cities is always current, but rarely has it been approached in a structured way and from a metropolitan perspective. With the appearance of Fernando Caballero's book, Madrid DF, the debate has been reactivated, and the new book by Oriol Nel·lo and Agustín Hernández Aja, Barcellona / Madrid. Un dialogo critico tra due città, is a new contribution. Edited by Angelo Mazza and published by CLEAN Edizioni, from Naples, the book reproduces, in conversation format, the reflections of both authors on the recent evolution of their respective cities.

Is it possible, then, to maintain a critical, yet constructive, dialogue between both cities? The PEMB has tried with the first session of the cycle, held this Friday at the Canòdrom de Barcelona, which has served above all to open questions rather than to close answers.

Carol Recio: "Sometimes we contrast Madrid and Barcelona as if they were rivals, but they have shared challenges"

From the beginning, the will has been to avoid the framework of competition. "Sometimes we contrast Madrid and Barcelona as if they were rivals, but they have shared challenges," said Carol Recio, president of the Executive Commission of the PEMB. Along the same lines, the general coordinator, Oriol Estela, highlighted the "permeability" existing between both metropolises, with professionals, projects and interests that constantly cross both cities.

The central dialogue, led by journalist Clara Blanchar, revolved around the book by Nel·lo and Hernández Aja. Both insisted on distancing themselves from confrontation. "It's not a book to contrast cities, but a conversation between two strollers," explained Hernández Aja. Nel·lo, for his part, highlighted the desire to analyze "common elements" such as inequality, the commodification of housing, and the role of metropolises in globalization.

From there, the debate was structured into four main areas—territory, economic model, global positioning, and challenges—with the support of infographics from the book commented on by geographer Joan López, who, as he explained, sought to "provide a numerical basis" and "tell stories from data."

Territory has historically marked great differences in the growth patterns of both regions—more intensive in Barcelona and more extensive in Madrid, according to López. But the weight of political decisions has also influenced the economic model, which Maria Buhigas has placed in the Madrid case as a "state will" to turn it into an economic capital.

Growing in different ways, warnings about this growth coincide nonetheless: the limits, the balance, and the effects of globalization. "We must ask ourselves why and for whom we grow," said Isabel González García, while Nel·lo recalled that, despite global dynamics, "urban policies can achieve tangible changes in the short term."

The debate closed with a shared idea, though formulated from different perspectives: the great challenges—housing, inequality, or social cohesion—are common to both cities, even if the strategies to address them diverge.

This first session did not seek so much to establish conclusions as to lay the groundwork for a conversation that will continue throughout 2026. The underlying question remains open: beyond comparing themselves, will Barcelona and Madrid be able to think together?