The Madrid International Urban Forum 2026 will take place on 14 and 15 December at the COAM headquarters, as part of Madrid2050, under the leadership of the Official College of Architects of Madrid.
The second edition will bring together international experience and local knowledge to analyse how civic leadership, strategic planning and the quality of the built environment can drive urban transformation.
The Forum will bring together international experience and applied work in Madrid to examine how the quality of the built environment shapes housing, public space, mobility, regeneration and economic activity.
We bring together the right people to challenge conventional thinking and drive transformation in 2020
among international civic platforms
among international civic platforms.
featuring exemplary examples from Madrid and other European cities
Over two days, urban strategy leaders, architects and international experts will share projects, methods and tools to assess how urban decisions improve everyday life and contribute to a city.
9:00–9:30
Accreditation and welcome coffee
9:30–10:00
Opening session
COAM Madrid2050 Madrid City Council / Community of Madrid / MIVAU
10:00–10:45
Keynote speech and presentation of the study
Who shapes the city?
> Professor Greg Clark
10:45–11:15
Coffee / networking
11:15–12:45
Round table
The civic power of cities
New York – Regional Plan Association – Tom Wright
Sydney – Committee for Sydney – Eamon Waterford
Barcelona – PEMB – Oriol Estela
Professor Greg Clark
> Moderator: Ángela Baldellou
12:45–13:30
Keynote
Competitions that shape the city
> Andreas Hofer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), IBA27 Stuttgart
13:30–14:30
Lunch / networking
14:30–15:45
Round table
From strategy to project: How to improve urban quality
Bilbao – Bilbao Metropoli 30 – Idoia Postigo
Málaga – CIEDES – Mª Carmen García Peña
Turin – Turin Institute of Architects – Roberta Ingaramo
London – NLA – Catherine Staniland
Madrid – Miguel Hernández (Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte)
> Moderator: Julia López Ventura – C40
15:45–16:45
An urban quality equaliser: measuring and anticipating the impact of decisions
Mar Santamaria y Pablo Martínez — 300.000 km/s
Raffaele Sisto — Smart&City
Madrid2050
17:00h - 18:30h
Guided tour of the ‘Cities Connection Project’ exhibition and Spanish wine
9:00–10:15
The Value of Planning: From Urban Growth to Quality of Life
Yap Lay Bee – Urban Redevelopment Authority Singapore
Professor Samer Bagaeen – Vice-President, RTPI
Moderator: Jose María Ezquiaga
10:15–12:00
Madrid 2050 – Pilot Projects I
Housing and public space: regenerating neighbourhoods, creating new centres
Getafe (Barrio de la Aviación and Barrio de la Estación) – and Roca City in Alcalá de Henares – ASEMAS
> Moderator: Ruth Ugalde (El Confidencial)
12:00–12:30
Coffee / networking
12:30–13:45
Madrid 2050 – Pilot Projects II
Regeneration to create opportunities: mobility, public space and economic activity
Carabanchel and the Atlético de Madrid Sports City – San Blas
> Moderator: Marta González Novo (Cadena SER)
13:45–14:45
Lunch / networking
15:00–16:30
The value of design competitions: from the idea to the built city
Raquel Jaureguízar (IBA Stuttgart)
Nathalie Brison (WBA - Wallonie-Bruxelles Architectures)
Jaime Eizaguirre (A229)
Council of Architects of Europe (CAE)
Community of Madrid urban development consortiums
> Moderator: Pablo Olalquiaga
16:30
2mfui Awards Ceremony and Closing Ceremony
The cities that share knowledge are the ones that change: Madrid connects experience to build its urban future.
Curated by Cities Connection Project (CCP) —platform founded by Nicola Regusci and Xavier Bustos—, the exhibition connects territories, scales and practices that address contemporary challenges in the built environment: sustainability, urban regeneration, liveability and social innovation.
Each of the projects is linked to the four areas of focus for Madrid 2050:
— Liveability and housing
— Mobility and infrastructure
— Public and community spaces
— Urban regeneration and rehabilitation
In contrast to traditional exhibition models, the exhibition device is conceived as a infrastructure for technical, institutional and academic exchange, where projects are not only displayed, but also engage in dialogue with each other, sharing methods, strategies and visions of the future.
You can see the 2025 forum exhibition at this link
Cities are changing. The challenge is to learn from one another in order to transform the way they grow, connect and are lived in.
A career spanning more than 40 years dedicated to the study, teaching, consulting and dissemination of knowledge about cities. Author of 10 books and more than 100 reports on urban investment and leadership, he co-hosts the podcasts The Century of Cities and The DNA of Cities, and is co-founder of the Urban Analytics Group, The Business of Cities.
A specialist in urban policy and strategic planning, he leads the Committee for Sydney. With a background in public administration and the social sector, he promotes proposals on density, equity and global positioning, connecting Sydney's leading business, academic and civic institutions.
Her research focuses on regenerative design, adaptive reuse and design using nature-based solutions. She has extensive professional and academic experience and is the author of several international publications (three monographs), including Rust Remix (LetteraVentidue).
A planner specialising in metropolitan planning, he chairs the Regional Plan Association of New York. With more than twenty years at the organisation, he led the Fourth Regional Plan and promotes strategies on affordable housing, mobility, infrastructure and climate resilience to transform the metropolitan area.
An economist and geographer specialising in local development and strategic planning, he coordinates the PEMB and heads its technical office. Since 1995 he has worked as a consultant for public authorities and at Barcelona Provincial Council, and has taken part in training activities and publications.
A specialist in strategic urban planning and metropolitan governance, she leads the CIEDES Foundation. She has been involved in Malaga's transformation for more than thirty years and coordinates the 2030 Strategic Plan, bringing public and private institutions together around a shared, sustainable, metropolitan vision.
As NLA's Chief Impact Officer, she leads the content strategy and oversees the delivery of the New London Agenda and its research strands. She works to ensure that the knowledge produced is rigorous, collaborative and able to guide the debate on London's urban future.
A Swiss architect specialising in cooperative housing and new ways of living, he directs the International Building Exhibition of the Stuttgart Region, IBA’27. He promotes projects that respond to social, technological and ecological change and make the sustainable transformation of this industrial metropolis visible.
Architect and co-founder of 300,000 Km/s, a pioneering studio in data-driven urban planning. Her work has been recognised with awards such as the S+T+ARTS Prize, the Spanish Urban Planning Award and the UIA's Abercrombie Award. A researcher and lecturer, she develops strategic projects in mobility, housing and urban policy.
An architect, civil engineer and PhD in Industrial and Organisational Engineering, he is co-founder and CEO of Smart&City Solutions. Specialising in urban indicators, he uses measurement systems to assess the impact of public policy and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
An architect from the ETSAB, founder and co-director of Cities Connection Project and curator of the CCP MADRID2050 exhibition (with Nicola Regusci), founder of xnf arquitectes 1998–2015 (with Nicola Regusci and Ferran Grau), associate professor of Architectural Design at the UdG and author of architectural criticism for the magazine werk, bauen+wohnen.
An architect and urban planner born in Madrid, she has been project director at the International Building Exhibition of the Stuttgart Region, IBA’27, since 2018. Her work addresses the legacy of modern architecture and the productive city from a sustainable and socially responsible perspective.
She holds degrees in Political Science and Psychology, with a master's in Psychology Research on Organisational Behaviour. She has nearly 30 years of experience in strategic urban thinking and in managing local and international projects. She has completed further training at Oxford, the London School of Economics and Berkeley.
Doctor of Architecture from ETSAM and co-director of Olalquiaga Arquitectos, with award-winning work at COAM and the Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial. Also trained in London with Alison & Peter Smithson and David Chipperfield, he has extensive teaching experience and has lectured at universities in Europe and Latin America.
An architect, journalist and doctor from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, she is an expert in sustainability, innovation and architectural communication. From her position as Managing Director of COAM, she promotes strategic projects such as Madrid 2050, promoting an integrated vision of urban planning and architectural quality.
An architect trained at the EUAG. After collaborating with Amadó-Domènech, Alfredo Vidal, Marco Vidotto and Carme Pinós, he founded XNF Arquitectes in 1999. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, drawn up the Barcelona Lighting Plan, served as a juror for AHI 2022 and co-directs Cities Connection Project, with 34 exhibitions and 10 catalogues.
Specialist in urban diplomacy and climate change, managing collaborative relationships between local governments and international organisations. Expert in urban knowledge transfer, cooperation with the European Commission and fundraising for climate projects.
Samer Bagaeen is a professor and an expert in urban planning and resilience. His international experience includes working with cities across Europe and the Middle East through the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities programme. He is also an elected councillor in Brighton and Hove.
atelier229 is a Brussels-based architecture studio focused on the transformation of existing buildings, the reuse of structures and materials and timber construction. Jaime Eizaguirre’s work seeks to explore new possibilities in seemingly obsolete architecture. He also maintains an interest in drawing and illustration as tools for observing and communicating architecture and the city.
With a degree in Translation and a Master's in International Relations, Nathalie Brison is Director of Wallonie-Bruxelles Architectures (WBA), a public organisation dedicated to the international promotion of architecture from Wallonia and Brussels. Her professional career combines culture, architecture and international cooperation, with a particular focus on developing connections and strengthening the international profile of French-speaking Belgian architecture.
The Madrid International Urban Forum is made possible by the participating companies:
An initiative of the
This forum is part of COAM's Madrid2050 initiative, a leading platform for sustainable urban development in the metropolitan region.
Madrid2050 is a think tank working permanently, with a metropolitan vision, to improve Madrid's liveability and competitiveness through the quality of the built environment.
The platform brings together public authorities, professionals, companies, universities and social organisations. Its four working groups connect analysis with pilot projects and evaluation tools to guide decisions on the region's urban transformation.
Official College of Architects of Madrid
Association of Property Developers
Sustainability and Civil Responsibility
International meeting to build the urban future of Madrid. An initiative of Madrid2050 organised by COAM.
Image courtesy of 300,000 km/s