Since September 2023, the European BIRTUOSS project develops the Opengela model, created in a previous project (HIROSS4all, funded by the Horizon 2020 programme), and explores social, economic and environmental aspects. It also explores ways to scale up the rehabilitation of buildings to the urban regeneration of each neighbourhood.

In fact, in recent years this model, led by the Basque Government’s Department of Housing and Urban Agenda, has grown to be implemented in 25 neighbourhoods in 21 municipalities in the Basque Country and is enabling the improvement of up to 2,800 homes. And at the same time as the network of offices is being extended to municipalities throughout the autonomous community, BIRTUOSS is developing a ‘living lab’ in TorreUrizar, in Bilbao, as it is being used as a test bench to experiment with the advances of this European project.

This new video shows the current state of the works and the offices that attend to the different neighbourhoods. Over several weeks, recordings were made in TorreUrizar (Bilbao); Aramotz (Durango); Altza (San Sebastian); Trintxerpe (Pasaia); Basaundi Bailara (Lasarte-Oria); Peñucas (Abanto); Santa Teresa (Mondragón); Txonta (Eibar); Zaramaga (Vitoria-Gasteiz); Otxarkoaga (Bilbao) and Vista Alegre (Sestao).

The video has been premiered in Madrid by Ana Telleria, director of Neighbourhood Regeneration and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, during the meeting of EU Peers, a European platform related to the Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS), which aims to significantly increase the rate of residential energy renovation by strengthening and expanding one-stop-shops.

Together with the Basque Government, the European project has a public-private consortium formed by the Basque Energy Agency (EVE), Bilbao Municipal Housing (VVMM), the clusters of Environment (Aclima), Construction (Build:Inn) and Knowledge and Technology (GAIA), the CAVIAR research group of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), EDE Fundazioa, the cooperative Cíclica (specialist in decarbonisation strategies), as well as companies with expertise in financing (GNE Finance), communication (Gabineteseis) and European affairs (Zabala Innovation), as well as two European-level bodies such as Fedarene (European Federation of Energy and Environment Agencies and Regions) and the Spanish Sustainable Building Council (GBCe).

• The European conference Basque4SC presents a new report on the Basque Urban Agenda with a focus on the themes of ‘Climate-resilient, diverse and inclusive cities’.
• The Opengela project stands out as a benchmark programme in urban regeneration with offices in 25 municipalities. 

Opengela, the programme that aims to extend urban regeneration in the Basque Country, was one of the speakers at the conference organised on Wednesday 11 December in Bilbao by the Basque Government under the slogan ‘Sustainable cities in the Basque Country: innovation, internationalisation and progress’. During the conference, the third monitoring report of the Basque Urban Agenda – Bultzatu 2050 was presented, which highlighted the importance of building resilient and inclusive cities.

The Opengela model, which has already enabled the implementation of proximity offices in 25 municipalities in the Basque Country, was mentioned as a key example of urban regeneration. Its approach combines energy efficiency in buildings and improved social cohesion, in line with the strategic objectives of sustainability and climate neutrality promoted by the Basque Urban Agenda.

Mikel Gargallo, Director of Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government opened the event by underlining that the Basque Urban Agenda constitutes a strategic framework to respond to current urban challenges, from climate change to social cohesion. ‘Urban regeneration is essential to improve built environments and promote more liveable cities’, he stressed.

Likewise, Juan Carlos Abascal, Vice-councillor for Territorial Planning, emphasised at the closing speech the importance of collaborative and multilevel governance in order to achieve the objectives set out in the 2050 horizon. ‘We are living through a change of era with many challenges, such as the need to generate cities and urban environments that promote well-being, sustainability and challenges such as effective and real equality, attention to an increasingly ageing society, and social justice’, said the Vice-councillor.

Sustainable cities facing climate change

The conference was attended by experts such as Estibaliz Sanz, researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), who presented the advances in the field of sustainable and resilient cities, one of the strategic axes of Bultzatu 2050. In her analysis, Sanz highlighted that 73% of the population is concentrated in metropolitan urban areas and that there is a significant ageing of the population, with an average age of 46. She also stressed that, according to the analysis of climate change vulnerability in the Basque Country, with a scenario for the end of the century, 100% of municipalities will be affected by heat waves, 81% by river flooding, 23% by rising sea levels (which affects 60% of the population). These data indicate a forecast of economic losses due to climate change, significant health impacts and an increase in social inequality.

In response to these challenges, the researcher stressed the objectives of the Basque Urban Agenda Bultzatu 2050: to promote a comprehensive urban perspective in the sustainability class in response to environmental challenges; to encourage co-responsibility, collaboration and participation, public, private, social and citizen sectors; to respond to the objectives of the Klima 2050 Strategy urban fabric; and to promote an environmental policy as an economic vector and the generation of new opportunities for employment, wellbeing and health in cities.

Inclusive and sustainable cities

The conference also addressed aspects such as social inclusion, a priority axis for the Basque Urban Agenda. Julia Shershneva, PhD from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), presented an analysis of strategic priority 8, which focuses on inclusion as a sign of identity. During her intervention, she underlined the importance of understanding social inclusion as a multidimensional phenomenon that affects territory, quality of life, income and access to citizenship rights.

Shershneva proposed various lines of action, including the promotion of social cohesion, tackling inequality and social exclusion, guaranteeing universal access to education and promoting culture and leisure accessible to all citizens. Shershneva also highlighted key challenges such as the fight against socio-economic and school segregation, the consolidation of the Basque language as an element of cohesion, and the development of actions to strengthen inclusion and coexistence.

An international model

The session also included the intervention of Sébastien Vaulzelle, director of the United Nations Local2030 Office, with the presentation ‘The role of Urban Agendas in the localisation of the 2030 Agenda’. Vaulzelle stressed that the cities of the future depend on both local policies and external factors, such as relations with other territories, geopolitical tensions and the effects of climate change. He stressed that the 2030 Agenda boosts the Bultzatu 2050 Urban Agenda and presented four keys to build integrated and sustainable cities:

• Common reference: The 2030 Agenda and its localisation provide a shared framework at horizontal (between actors) and vertical (between levels of government) levels.
• Policy coherence: Ensure that investments are aligned with common indicators.
• Internationalisation: Disseminate and replicate the models generated.
• Continuous work: Requires a constant, multi-level, multi-actor effort.

EU Peers has compiled and published a series of success stories of Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS) across Europe. These examples, as they say, ‘serve as crucial resources, not only inspiring other IHRS providers, but also offering guidance to external parties interested in supporting the deployment of such services’.

Among these cases, Opengela in the Basque Country is mentioned as an example of building trust among citizens by establishing one-stop shops in vulnerable neighbourhoods that guide residents through the entire renovation process.

In fact, in their desire to generate synergies at European level to achieve common objectives, an increasing number of members of the 14 partner organisations of the BIRTUOSS-Opengela project are joining the EU Peers project, also funded by the LIFE programme.

• Juan Carlos Abascal, Vice-Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, took part in the session ‘The New European Bauhaus and the Urban Agenda beyond Architecture’.

The Hibridalab space in Vitoria-Gasteiz has hosted this Friday the session ‘The New European Bauhaus and the Urban Agenda beyond Architecture’ in the format of a radio programme broadcast by the Pop-up radio station.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is an EU policy and funding initiative launched by the European Commission in 2021 that promotes sustainable solutions to transform the built environment and lifestyles in the framework of the ecological transition. The aim of this conference organised by the Conexiones improbables initiative, together with the Basque Government, and with the support of Euroiker and EDE Fundazioa, was to analyse how the NEB infuses ideas into the Urban Agenda of the Basque Country.

Juan Carlos Abascal, Vice-Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, attended the opening conversation together with Andoni Hidalgo, director of Euroiker; Laura Hageman, policy officer of the New European Bauhaus; and Roberto Gómez de la Iglesia, director of Conexiones Improbables.

During his intervention, Abascal emphasised that in the development of the local Urban Agenda ‘inter-institutional collaboration is necessary, with private companies, technology centres and universities, in order to tackle the challenges, not only urban, but also environmental, economic and technological challenges of urban regeneration’. In this regard, the Vice-Minister for Housing and the Urban Agenda gave as an example the Opengela model, which is working on the refurbishment of neighbourhoods and housing in the Basque Country. ‘We are working in 25 neighbourhoods in 20 municipalities. We have 130 million euros of our own funds, 40 million of European funds, in addition to what the local councils contribute,’ he said. Opengela, as Abascal explained, ‘is also going to achieve an energy improvement in housing, but far from improving the urban and architectural aspect, what it aims to do is to create community by integrating environmental, economic and social issues…’.

In the same terms, Andoni Hidalgo said, ‘we are talking about making cities more habitable, and there is a fundamental element: we have to place what is being done at a local level in the European sphere, the efforts being made in the Basque Country in the Urban Agenda in the European area’.

Other aspects related to the Urban Agenda, such as inclusive sustainability and creative sustainability, were also discussed during the event.