Home>Study trip to Bilbao: Exploring urban and ecological transitions
11.03.2025
Study trip to Bilbao: Exploring urban and ecological transitions
In February 2025, students from the Governing Ecological Transitions in Cities (GETIC) Master's programme were in Bilbao for their annual study trip, diving into the city’s remarkable transformation and innovative urban development approach.
The Basque Country is one of Spain’s most prosperous and dynamic regions, with strong industrial clusters and a commitment to sustainable growth. Bilbao symbolises successful urban regeneration, with the Guggenheim Museum at its heart, which has attracted over 20 million visitors since 1997.
The trip aimed to study how the necessary ecological transformations are conceived, planned and governed in cities that have already undergone immense changes. Bilbao is an exceptional case of urban, economic and environmental change based on innovative gambles and a strong local identity. And now? Risk management (especially flooding), tourism regulation, decarbonisation, adaptation to demographic decline, association of “distant” regions essential to the metropolis (for water, energy, housing, etc.), industrial relocations: all these are fascinating subjects of investigation for the students of the GETIC Master's programme.
“What I found very interesting in Bilbao is how the city has managed to transform its industrial land into a valuable resource in a context of financial constraints and urban renewal by developing an innovative economic model based on the city redeveloping industrial land and then selling it on to generate a profit that repays the investment in renovating and cleaning up the land and even makes it possible to finance the next project”. Marion Dejean, GETIC student
Over these few days, students engaged with key actors shaping Bilbao’s evolution. Through expert meetings, site visits, and on-the-ground exploration, they gained insights into the city’s social, economic, and environmental transitions—a valuable perspective for their future work in urban governance and sustainability.
Programme overview:
- Meeting with Roberto San Salvador, Deusto University Cities Lab, about Bilbao’s urban transformation (Deusto University Cities Lab)
- Meeting with Idoia Postigo, Bilbao Metropoli 30 Director, about the public/private governance of the transformation
- Meeting with Maria Bidaurreta, Public relations coordinator of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, about the “Guggenheim effect” and the project of a new Museum in Urdaibai (Gernika river) - Followed by a visit of the Museum
- Meeting with Ziortza Olano Astigarraga, coordinator of Mondragon Unibertsitatea, about industry 4.0, cooperativism and the Zorrotzaurre project
- Meeting with Asier Abaunza, deputy in charge of urban planning, City of Bilbao
- Meeting with Greenpeace Euskadi about their vision of ecological challenges
- Meeting with the association StopGuggenheim Urdaibai (Gernika), about the possibility of a sustainable tourism
- Meeting with Unai Diago, Mayor of Zalla (9000 inhabitants), about transition challenges and center-periphery relations in the Greater Bilbao
