The conference, hosted in conjunction with ULI Spain, served to recognise the pioneering role of Madrid Nuevo Norte in incorporating participatory processes into urban planning from the outset.
The event was attended by representatives of some of Europe’s leading construction projects, who shared their successes in citizen participation.
British urban planner and professor Ricky Burdett reflected on the challenges facing cities and presented some examples of successful urban developments that are well integrated into their surroundings.

The future of our cities depends, to a large extent, on their ability to respond to the environmental, economic and social challenges they face. In this context, citizen participation in the design of urban spaces is an opportunity to create more resilient, innovative and equitable cities. This was highlighted at the conference “Citizen Participation in Urban Planning: An Opportunity for All,” held at La Casa Encendida and hosted by Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte and ULI Spain as art of UN-Habitat’s Urban October. This is the first meeting of its kind to be held in Madrid, bringing the best practice in international urban planning to our city with the aim of sharing knowledge and encouraging the inclusion of participatory processes in future projects.

A space for exchange and inspiration

The event was conceived as a forum for reflection and exchange of experiences on the results of, and complexity involved in, citizen participation in urban development processes, but also on the benefits it brings to society, the projects themselves and the entities promoting them. Throughout the day, international experts, institutional representatives, companies and social organisations shared their visions and discussed transformative projects that are already setting the tone for how to design cities.

The Madrid Nuevo Norte experience

Álvaro Aresti, president of Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte, welcomed attendees to the event and shared the company’s pioneering implementation of a citizen participation strategy for the Madrid Nuevo Norte project, which has been in place since the project’s inception. “The idea of organising this event arose from our desire to share the experience and knowledge we have accumulated over the nine years we have been pursuing the participatory urban planning model of Madrid Nuevo Norte,” explained Aresti. “Today, with more than 600 activities carried out and 35,000 citizens involved in the participatory processes, we are in no doubt that it was a great decision. Because no one can contribute more to the design of a city than those who actually use it on a daily basis, with their different realities and needs,” he said.

Aresti insisted on the importance of “leaving behind the restrictive and outdated model of 20th-century urban planning” and stressed that “the future of cities can no longer be built behind closed doors, but rather hand in hand with their citizens.”

Ricky Burdett: projects blending into their surroundings

The day continued with a presentation by Ricky Burdett, director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme at the London School of Economics, who offered a global overview of the challenges facing contemporary cities. Burdett has highlighted the importance of “connectivity between areas, mixed use design, accessibility by public transport, proper densification of neighbourhoods and the need to involve citizens in the process” in order to achieve “truly integrated and inclusive cities”. Using international examples, Burdett illustrated how the most successful urban development projects are those that blend into their surroundings and respond to the real needs of their inhabitants.

Burdett also spoke about the Madrid project: “Madrid Nuevo Norte exists as an extension which adds more to the city, more than Madrid already is,” he said, before going on to outline several international projects that similarly seek to understand and work with the DNA of the city. Among them, he highlighted King’s Cross and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, both in London.

Inspiring projects and best practice

Moderated by Almudena Cano Piñeiro, Head of Sustainable Urban Development at Metrovacesa, the first roundtable brought together three leading figures in the management of large European urban development processes.

Christina Geib, CEO of HafenCity (Hamburg), shared her experience of one of Europe’s most successful urban regeneration projects. Geib detailed her experience in regenerating Hamburg’s port area, a process that transformed former industrial land into a new mixed usage urban district, and explained some of the participation initiatives, such as workshops for children, cultural and sporting events and the creation of community houses to foster a sense of belonging. She also mentioned a HafenCity initiative whereby those who buy plots or settle in the area commit to financing the activation of public space through an extensive social and cultural programme.

Rebecca Miller, Senior Urban Designer at Old Oak and Park Royal (London), one of the city’s largest urban regeneration projects, explained how they have brought together different stakeholders and communities to ensure participation and the success of the project. Miller also highlighted that her approach combines immediate interventions and pilot projects with long-term planning, in pursuit of a lasting legacy while also adding short-term value by fostering a sense of belonging.

Karina Gutiérrez, head of Social Engagement at Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte, detailed the pioneering approach of the Madrid project, which for nine years has involved thousands of citizens through more than 600 participatory activities. Gutiérrez outlined the methodology and measures carried out throughout the different phases of the project, and highlighted the importance of actively listening to all groups. Starting in 2016 in a very unfavourable context, with widespread rejection and mistrust of what was to be done, the citizen participation process in Madrid Nuevo Norte has not only incorporated citizens’ demands, leading to an improved project, but has strengthened community networks in the neighbourhoods. “Participation has been fundamental in getting us to where we are today, through the consensus of all parties involved and the social support of the citizens,” he concluded.

The roundtable highlighted that citizen participation, far from being an obstacle, is a fundamental tool for building more cohesive, sustainable cities that are adapted to their inhabitants.

Inclusive urban planning: designing cities for everyone

Moderated by Diego Isabel de la Moneda, Executive Director of the NESI Forum Foundation for New Economy and Social Innovation, the second roundtable addressed the challenge of designing cities that take account of the different sensibilities and needs of all groups:

Inés Sánchez de Madariaga, UNESCO Chair at the UPM and visiting researcher at the Leventhal Centre for Advanced Urbanism at MIT, has defended the need to incorporate gender and diversity perspectives into urban planning. “A key aspect highlighted in gender studies has to do with caregiving tasks,” she said. In her opinion, it is a question of valuing “all those activities necessary for the reproduction of life and society, without which there is no economy.”

Thais Valero, Director of Green Solutions at Fundación Juan XXIII, shared her experiences on how to adapt participatory processes for people with disabilities. “In our experience with Madrid Nuevo Norte, we designed a methodology that incorporated functional, sensory and cognitive diversity into the very structure of the participatory process,” she explained. She went on to say, “for participation to be inclusive, it needs to be structured, situated and accessible. This does not happen by default: it has to be designed and safeguarded.”

Paola Bernal Fuentes, a specialist in local childhood policies at UNICEF Spain, focused on childhood and adolescence, arguing that “designing cities with children in mind means designing better cities for all citizens.” The UNICEF representative reflected on the importance of the urban environment for the proper development of children. As she put it, to achieve this, urban environments “must allow all children to have an adequate first chance in life, including contact with nature to promote physical and mental health, play spaces and walkable mobility.”

The discussion focused on the importance of active participation by all groups in defining urban spaces, to guarantee social justice and equity.

Benefits and challenges of citizen participation

Moderated by Miguel Hernández, Director of Strategy at Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte, the final panel discussion of this meeting explored the opportunities and challenges involved in incorporating citizen participation in urban planning processes, both public and private. To this end, it brought together representatives from the public and private sectors who offered complementary perspectives on the same reality: it is no longer possible to create a city that has its back turned on citizens.

Myriam Peón, Director of Sueña Madrid, the public office in charge of reviewing Madrid’s General Plan, has highlighted that approaches to urban design have changed, that there has been “a social, economic and urban planning paradigm shift” and that the focus must now be on citizens. “If the city belongs to the people, the knowledge needed to improve it does not lie with the experts, but with all citizens.” Thus, in urban creation processes, “the more varied that knowledge is, the richer it will be and the greater the likelihood of success,” she said.

Peón acknowledged the pioneering work of Madrid Nuevo Norte in this regard: “Sueña Madrid was born out of listening to Madrid Nuevo Norte. When we started this inspiring participation project, we went to Madrid Nuevo Norte and asked them how they had done it.”

Miguel Díaz Batanero, Land Director at Metrovacesa and Co-Chair of the ULI Urban Development Product Council, reflected on the importance of establishing effective channels of dialogue between developers, government and society. In his view, in recent years “there has been a disconnect between urban planning and citizens. This is partly because the discipline is complex and has traditionally been focused on architects, urban planners and governments. Citizens saw urban planning as something alien to them, even though it directly affects their lives,” he explained.

“I think there has been growing social demand, combined with better tools available today. Today, these processes are much easier to implement than they were a few years ago,” he reflected.

Nadia Boschi, Director of Sustainability Italy and Continental Europe ESG Director at Lendlease, shared the perspective of one of the major international developers and, drawing on her extensive experience in urban redevelopment, emphasised that “over the last 20 years, we have seen that collaboration and flexibility are key to success in any large-scale development. When we decide to create new places, we are really creating communities and that involves collaboration with the administrations, with the partners who provide the capital and, of course, with the citizens.”

Institutional intervention and closing remarks

The representative of UN-Habitat Spain, Ana Beatriz Jordao, spoke in the context of World Cities Day, recalling that “truly smart cities are not those using the most technology, but those based on collective intelligence, those listening better to their citizens and making them participants and co-authors of urban transformations”. She also highlighted that during the conference it became clear that cities such as Madrid “must take advantage of long-term planning and combine it with active participation”.

The closing remarks were given by Jorge Pérez de Leza, President of ULI Spain, who stressed that “the urban future cannot be improvised, but must be planned, managed and shared. Twenty-first century urban planning is not about growing more, but about growing better.”

This event was, above all, an opportunity to inspire, learn and generate connections, and an invitation to think about how to create the best urban development projects through collaboration with those who know the city best: its citizens.