Every region of the world has its particular cultural, social and artistic heritage. In urban centres this is at its most pronounced, with the places we live in being the result history – a history of artistic visions, social and cultural forces, planning initiatives, and engineering projects. As UNESCO points out, in thinking about the future of any given place, we are obliged to build on its past and its present: its artistic heritage and craft traditions, its design vernaculars and regional practices, its varied buildings and urban plans, its neighborhood bonds, economic conditions, social norms, and more. A city and its cultural life then, are living questions – past, present and future.

All this means that when discussing the history and future of specific sites we must think broadly. We have to understand the local and the global context in we live: the transnational forces of globalization, the growing importance of culture and tourism, the worldwide trends of heritage and consumerism, the universal concern for sustainability etc. In this regard too, a city, a region or a site are all complex entities – questions of specific responses to global issues.

The host city of this event, Barcelona, and by extension the whole region of Catalonia, is a perfect example of this. A place of cultural identity; a site of architectural masterworks; a centre of visionary urbanism; and a place of artistic creation over centuries, it is also a place of contestation. Alongside its celebrated public art is unaffordable housing; next to its tourist sites are pockets of industrial decline; alongside its cultural heritage are forces of political and social unrest. In celebrating and conserving the history and present of the region, there is a need to plan a future that is fair, just, open and, in the final analysis, sustainable.