Promise of the Metropolitan Age – UCLG meeting in Barcelona

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in partnership with Metropolis (World Association of the Major Metropolises) have hosted a strategic discussion here in the old beautiful city of Barcelona to discuss the compilation of a position document for presentation at Habitat III in Quito in October. Very interesting tension between traditional neo-libera tropes on local economic development/competitive cities and more progressive conceptions of collaboration, learning through sharing, redistribution and equality. Sustainability tends to be understood through a carbon lens, but there is real interest in the resource consumption perspective that I spoke about. As always, I find the ultra-diverse world of local government dynamics incredibly stimulating, and I must appreciate the French and Spanish preference for complexity to the Anglo-Saxon predilection for reductionism, especially when the latter defaults to market fundamentalism. Edgar Pieterse and I are drafting the conclusion to this document, which is based on three base reports on Metropolises, Intermediate Cities and Regions written mainly by people located in the global North (which means few examples come from our context). My old friend Billy Cobbett from high school and PLANACT days is here – he heads up Cities Alliance based in Brussels. Having Mayors and local government officials from various parts of the world as part of the discussion is refreshing.