The Consell de Ciutat (City Assembly), Barcelona’s most important advisory and participatory body, has just turned twenty. During this time the assembly has contributed to the evolution of city governance and become a space which represents society, today’s heir of the Consell de Cent, which lasted five centuries.
The assembly has space for trade unions, business associations, community organisations, institutions representing the city and individual citizens, over a hundred members with the capacity to draft rulings and recommendations for improving municipal policies.
The assembly has three organisational levels: the Plenary, which initially proposes topics, the Permanent Commission, and working groups devoted to listening and consulting experts.
Access to housing is one of the main challenges for the city in the coming years. Barcelona has launched a new strategy to respond to the issue during this term of office, thePla Viure.
The plan, which users can follow on the website habitatge.barcelona, not only defines the goals but also the actions and services in this area for the period 2025-2032, notable aspects being:
Making the right to housing universal: enlarging the stock of affordable social housing.
Renovating and improving housing: with sustainability, accessibility and comfort.
Addressing vulnerability: the demographic challenge and life stages.
The future Barcelona Housing Plan 2025-2032 is now under way with aparticipatory process open to everybody. In this first stage, an assessment will be made of the measures implemented in recent years in the city, with discussions on new proposals for the next eight years. The participatory sessions will run until the summer of 2025.If you want to stay up to date, don’t forget to check the website habitatge.barcelona.
The team from .barcelona organised an information session on 19 November aimed at educators, consultants and professionals from the technical team at Barcelona Activa, introducing all the advantages of registering a .barcelona domain and providing them with the tools to act as prescribers for companies and advisory entrepreneurs from Barcelona Activa’s various programmes.
What is a .barcelona domain?
A .barcelona domain is much more than just a website address. It is a seal of identity which links your project with the city. It is a way of showing the world you are part of the Barcelona community and that you share the values of innovation, creativity and international openness that characterise the city.
Why choose .barcelona?
· Visibility: a .barcelona domain allows you to stand out in searches linked with Barcelona.
· Identity: it transmits a strong connection with the city and its inhabitants.
· Credibility: it gives a professional and distinctive touch to your online presence.
· Opportunities: it opens up possibilities of new collaboration and projects within the Barcelona ecosystem.
Who is the .barcelona domain aimed at?
The .barcelona domain is open to anybody wishing to link their project with the city: companies, organisations, the self-employed, non-profit entities, events, citizen initiatives and more. Whether you have a local business or want to break into a market in Barcelona, the .barcelona domain is an excellent option.
Unique opportunity for entrepreneurs
As part of its support plan for entrepreneurs, Barcelona Activa is offering free .barcelona domains during the first year of all projects establishing a link with the city. This way, entrepreneurs can launch their businesses with their own professional domain from the first moment.
How to register a .barcelona domain?
1. Visit domini.barcelona: go to the website and check the availability of the domain you would like.
2. Choose a registration company: select the registration company that suits your needs best.
3. Complete the register: fill in the form with your details and complete the purchase.
With this training, Barcelona Activa gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to build a solid digital identity in the city with a .barcelona domain, which backs their work and visibility.
The 81st annual ICANN meeting was held in Istanbul from 9 to 14 November. ICANN is the organisation responsible at an international level for coordinating various technical aspects of the internet, to guarantee that it works in a safe, stable and accessible way for everybody. The team from .barcelona took part in the meeting and came back to the city with a wealth of new information and knowledge.
The future of the internet, increasingly diverse and inclusive
One of the star topics at the meeting was the importance of international domain names (IDN). This means that we will increasingly see domains with characters from other alphabets, such as the Cyrillic or Arabic alphabets, plus domains that contain characters unique to the Catalan language, such as those using .barcelona, favouring the use of our language. This is great news for cultural and linguistic diversity on the internet!
The ICANN highlighted the importance of promoting universal acceptance, where all of us as users get accustomed to using these domains in our daily life. This will make the internet even more open and accessible for everybody.
New opportunities and challenges for .barcelona
The draft for the ICANN strategic plan for 2030, to be presented in 2026, was another topic at the meeting. There was also extensive discussion about the new round of geographical Top-Level Domains (gTLD) being opened up in 2026. This new stage represents a great opportunity for new stakeholders, at the same time posing challenges in terms of management and competitiveness for new domains and existing domains alike.
As a member of the GeoTLD group, the .barcelona team are closely involved with the implementation of the directive on the resilience of essential entities (NIS2). This European directive establishes new cybersecurity requisites for essential services, such as domain registers. Our team has already started working to adapt to the new regulation and ensure that .barcelona is a domain offering maximum security and reliability for all our users.
Strengthening ties with the .barcelona community
During the annual meeting, we took the opportunity to meet with main registration companies for the domain and to strengthen our collaboration. These meetings are fundamental for ensuring the domain works well and offering a quality service to users.
What does all this mean?
These new developments allow us to look to the future with optimism. The .barcelona domain is growing and constantly evolving to adapt to the new trends of the internet. We want .barcelona to be your trusted domain, a space where you can express your digital identity and connect with the city’s community.
ICANN81 was a unique opportunity for the .barcelona domain to be at the forefront of debate on the future of the internet and be involved in defining the regulations that govern it. The meeting helped us collaborate with other stakeholders in the sector and put .barcelona on the map as a leader in managing geographical city domains.
