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Barcelona and London Mayors Pledge Cooperation on City Centers, Climate, and Housing

A July swap between their city teams will turn the Madrid meeting into hands-on cooperation.

Overview

  • Barcelona’s Jaume Collboni and London’s Sadiq Khan met in Madrid at the Bloomberg CityLab forum and called for city centers that serve local residents.
  • They agreed to begin a technical exchange in July so staff can share practical methods on street design, housing rules, and cutting emissions.
  • The mayors compared flagship projects on La Rambla and Oxford Street as models to boost local life, small shops, and cultural spaces.
  • Collboni restated Barcelona’s housing push with a cap on rent increases and a 2028 end to tourist-flat licenses that would return about 10,000 homes to long-term use.
  • Khan, who leads the C40 climate network, said he wants to learn from Barcelona and urged cities to collaborate through networks that spread what works.