"Barcelona is back, again" (Barcelona is back, again), defended the Deputy Mayor for Economy, Labor, Competitiveness and Finance, Jaume Collboni, at the presentation of Barcelona ReAct, the event that is intended to kick off the economic reactivation of the city and its metropolitan area after the impact of the pandemic. "It will be a litmus test that we will successfully overcome as a city because it is already being demonstrated that Barcelona has the capacity, courage, ideas and values to emerge stronger from this crisis," he remarked.
More than 100 local and international experts will discuss what should be the levers to drive this recovery from Tuesday, April 13 to Friday, April 16. They will do so from the Disseny Hub, the main venue for the conferences, conceived in a hybrid format, mixing physical and digital experience. Other locations such as the Olympic Port, La Boqueria and the Olympic Stadium will host parallel activities, which will be held outdoors and will be open to everyone.
The Catalan capital will analyze issues such as the potential that technology, new mobility, the green economy, digital health initiatives, the blue economy, industry 4.0, creative industries or the visitor economy may have in the post-pandemic scenario. Projects promoted by the City Council, such as the transformation of 22@ and the Barcelona seafront or the re-economization of the city center, will also be discussed, and experiences from other cities will be shared.
Sociologist Saskia Sassen; urban planner and city advisor Greg Clark; director of the audiovisual fair ISE, Mike Blackman; founding member of Greenpeace, Reme Parmentier; CEO of EIT Urban Mobility, Maria Tsavachidis, and UN Special Envoy for the Oceans, Peter Thomson, will be some of the speakers who will try to provide the keys to the future normality. Likewise, agents from Barcelona, representatives from sectors such as the economic, cultural or academic will participate to foster collaboration in the city and maintain its leadership.
Manifesto with 10 key actions to overcome the crisis
Barcelona has to emerge from Barcelona ReAct more competitive, more equitable and more sustainable, "without leaving anyone behind," as stated by the deputy mayor. The debates of the four days of conferences will translate into a manifesto with 10 key actions to guarantee the reactivation of the city, which will constitute a guide for its economic future in the coming years.
The city council has been working for weeks to organize Barcelona ReAct, an event that it hopes will be repeated every year. For Collboni, the hybrid format of meetings like this will be maintained once the pandemic passes, but, looking ahead to next year, they hope that more attendees can gather and that a platform continues to be offered that explains that the city remains a destination where one can invest and develop projects.