Greg Clark: ‘Madrid must make the most of the opportunity presented by Madrid Nuevo Norte to position itself globally’

Greg Clark, renowned global city expert, highlights the potential of Madrid Nuevo Norte to boost the capital’s international visibility by combining innovative city-planning, economic activity, and local identity.

International paragon in city advisory, Greg Clark, took part in a meeting with the Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte team, in which he shared his insight about the challenges and evolution of urban environments as spaces that create opportunities, as well as his vision of the future for the city of Madrid. The Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte professionals had the chance to discuss and exchange ideas about the major challenges that cities face and the enormous opportunity that Madrid Nuevo Norte poses for the capital.

During his visit, the renowned British expert admitted feeling inspired by Madrid Nuevo Norte, a project that, in his opinion, extends far beyond the scope of real estate and which—given its size, ambition, and complexity—he defines as ‘a very big transportation project, a big energy, water, health, economic, and lifestyle project, it’s a project about re-mixing the city, and resequencing what happens in the city together in a new way”.

Greg Clark shares his impressions about the Madrid of the future with the Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte team.

Clark explained that Madrid has not attained the international visibility or recognition that it warrants given its true importance. To Clark, this discrepancy between the real value of the city and the image it exports serves as a favourable starting point for advancing positions among the global competition and situating it as a ‘leading city’. In his opinion, the driver that will propel the city’s transformation and the renewal of its image will undoubtedly be Madrid Nuevo Norte, and it will do so by blending the best features of modern, innovative, sustainable city planning with Madrid’s own DNA, culture, climate, and way of life.

In this respect, Greg Clark highlighted the transformative power of Madrid’s urban regeneration project, assuring that its capacity to improve the city will extend beyond the physical limits of the project to impact the capital at large, an effect seen in other major urban renewal projects around the world, including London, New York, and Hong Kong. According to Clark, we are immersed in ‘the century of cities’, in which the world’s great metropolises are being reinvented as more competitive, more attractive, and more sustainable alternatives. It is now Madrid’s turn, thanks to Madrid Nuevo Norte.

The British expert exchanges ideas with the professionals who work on the capital’s transformation.

Advising over 400 cities worldwide

A specialist in cities, mobility, the built environment, innovation, and urban leadership, Greg Clark is the author of 10 books and more than 100 reports on cities, mobility, real estate, climate, urban economies, local leadership and investment, for both the private sector and the government.

In addition to his intense institutional and academic schedule in his native United Kingdom, Clark has collaborated with 400 cities worldwide over the course of his lengthy career, including New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Vienna, Oslo, Barcelona, ​​Turin, Toronto, Auckland, and Cape Town, among others.