How can more housing be created without cities continuing to spread out? According to the Basque government, this question is at the heart of the congress Euskal Hiria, which is due to take place on 16 and 17 November 2026 in Bilbao . On Friday, the government announced international participants and a programme covering housing construction, building renovation and sustainable urban development.
The department of the Basque government responsible for housing and urban development is organising the 24th edition at the Bizkaia Aretoa. The meeting is supported by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat. Experts and representatives of public bodies are expected to attend from Spain, other European countries and North America, among other places.
According to the organisers, existing buildings and neighbourhoods are to be adapted to allow new uses and better meet social and climate-related needs. This includes renovating buildings, converting underused spaces and regenerating urban districts. The congress will also consider how people can remain in their existing neighbourhoods despite these changes.
Bilbao’s mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, the Basque minister for housing and urban development, Denis Itxaso, and Shubhagato Dasgupta of UN-Habitat are scheduled to open the event. They will be followed by Duncan Lewis from the architecture firm Scape Architecture and Maurice Lange from the UK research institute Centre for Cities. Further contributions on the first day will look at urban planning tools and the delivery of urban transformation projects.
One programme session is devoted to circular architecture: existing buildings are to be reused, extended or adapted for other purposes rather than demolished and replaced. Participants in the discussion are to include representatives of the Basque government, the Barcelona metropolitan area and the city of Bilbao.
On the second day, a contribution by Nikki Kamps, head of the initiative Rotterdam Rooftop Days, is scheduled. According to the organisers, the aim is to make rooftops available for greenery, biodiversity, energy generation and community uses. Further contributions will address adapting neighbourhoods to climate change.
On the subject of affordable housing, Sonja Trauss from San Francisco is also due to speak. According to the Basque government, the co-founder of a movement for more housing is campaigning to increase supply. A debate is also planned on support for and opposition to housing projects in people’s own neighbourhoods. The announcement does not specify any concrete measures to come out of the congress.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).