On July 3, around sixty people participated in the “Metropolis in Transformation” session, held at the headquarters of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). Organized by the Catalunya Europa Foundation and the AMB, with the support of the Diputació de Barcelona, the event addressed a shared urgency: how to plan territories in the face of the climate crisis.

Nearly twenty experts from academic, institutional, municipal, and civil society fields shared ideas, challenges, and experiences on how to advance toward a more resilient metropolis. Topics included the management of beaches as essential urban infrastructures, the need to adapt cities to rising temperatures and extreme weather events, and the urgency of revising urban planning with climate justice criteria. It was also highlighted that private transport, in addition to being part of the problem, is often among the most affected by climate change impacts, and that better coordination between administrations is required to prevent municipalities from facing these challenges alone.

From the AMB, Ana Romero emphasized the importance of taking a preventive—not reactive—approach to climate crisis management and considering the multiple vulnerabilities of the population. Along the same lines, other speakers warned about inequalities in exposure and adaptive capacity to climate risks and advocated solutions designed with equity and public space redesign in mind.

In the afternoon, a visit to the Gavà dunes, guided by Daniel Palacios, offered a close look at the AMB’s strategy for managing the coastline by combining environmental protection with public use.

The event demonstrated that planning in times of climate crisis is neither a technical nor a unilateral task. It requires collaborative planning involving institutions, citizens, and economic actors. Transforming the metropolis means working together to build more resilient, equitable, and better-adapted territories for the challenges that are already here.

Watch the full event on our YouTube channel.