Barcelona
City & Rights
Action Plan

A Plan for the City, the People and the Planet

Mission

The BCN Action Plan aims to transform Barcelona into a global centre of reference in civil and social rights. Thanks to a partnership between Barcelona’s public, private and policy sectors, incentives are being developed in order to attract to Barcelona the world’s leading organisations, foundations, think tanks and professionals working on these topics.

Vision

“Global cities” are not only centres of finance, science and culture; they are also renowned centres of innovation on the world’s greatest policy challenges. A key aspect of their global brand and prestige results from hosting a critical mass of the world’s leading think tanks, NGOs, research centres, and foundations. Barcelona seeks a similar future and possesses outstanding geographic, economic, and quality-of-life advantages that give the city an enormous scope for growth in the international policy sector.
Background

We have four operational pillars:

A benchmark mapping and one-year consultation process with Barcelona’s key stakeholders revealed a strongly shared conviction about Barcelona’s potential to become a leading hub of international policy work. The consultation process culminated in the creation of the BCN International Policy Sector Action Plan (BCN Action Plan). Ratified and endorsed by more than 30 of Barcelona’s most prominent international policy groups, the plan was launched at a high-profile signature ceremony in 2015.

&

360-degree partnership across the city’s public, private and policy sectors.

&

Concrete incentives to attract leading international policy actors to transfer some or all of their global operations to Barcelona.

&

A global "call for applications" in order to create a special opportunity for leading international actors to consider a move to Barcelona.

&

An independent and technically-specialised secretariat to guide the successful implementation of the Action Plan.

BCN Action Plan Team

Steering Committee

The BCN Action Plan Steering Committee is a volunteer group that guides the direction of the BCN Action Plan on behalf of the BCN Action Plan signatories.

Members:

Marta Angerri

General Director
Círculo de Economía

Francesc Badia

Editor/Director
Democracia Abierta/Open Democracy

Mireia Belil

Independent Consultant

Judit Carrera

General Director
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB)

Elisabeth de Nadal

Founder and Director
BIPP HUB

Partner
Cuatrecasas

Mateu Hernández

CEO
Barcelona Global

Xavier Mas de Xaxàs

Journalist
La Vanguardia

Guillem Ramírez

Advisor to the Deputy Mayor for the 2030 Agenda, Digital Transition and International Relations
Barcelona City Council – Ajuntament de Barcelona

Felip Roca

International Relations Director
Barcelona City Council – Ajuntament de Barcelona

Maria Vallès

General Director
Fundació Barça

Jordi Vaquè

Director for Global Foresight and Analysis
Open Society Foundation

Rafael Vilasanjuan

Director, Policy & Global Development
ISGlobal

Secretariat

The BCN Action Plan Secretariat is the independent, specialised body that manages the implementation of the BCN Action Plan and reports to the BCN Action Plan Steering Committee. The Secretariat is hosted by the Barcelona International Public Policy Hub (BIPP HUB) within the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau.

Team:

Elisabeth de Nadal

Executive Director

Àngels Cortina

Project Manager