Bilbao wins European City of the Year at 2018 Urbanism Awards

Bilbao wins European City of the Year at 2018 Urbanism Awards

Bilbao has been named European City of the Year at the 2018 Urbanism Awards. The Spanish city fought off strong competition from fellow finalists Ljubljana and Vienna after a summer of assessment visits and subsequent vote by Academicians. The award was collected by the city’s Mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, who delivered a seminar on the reasons behind Bilbao’s success.

The award is one of five given out each year by The Academy of Urbanism, a network of built environment experts from across Europe. The awards recognize Britain and Ireland’s best place, street, neighbourhood and town, as well as Europe’s best city. The Academy judges against a number of social, economic and environmental factors, including good governance and commercial success.

Judges praised the Basque city for having transformed itself from the post-industrial economic doldrums of the 1990s through investment in culture, bold leadership and clever use of economic policies.

David Rudlin, chair of the Academy, said: “Bilbao is a great example of the wholesale transformation of a former industrial city – not just physically, but socially, economically and culturally. The rejuvenation it has achieved over the past 30 years is nothing short of remarkable. All of this has been achieved through bold and effective leadership, the likes of which has seen the city run debt-free since 2010.”