ADA COLAU MAYOR OF BARCELONA Barcelona’s first female mayor Ada Colau Ballano is the first woman to become against reforms that tried to dismantle the public mayor in Barcelona’s history. university system. She was born in Barcelona, on 3 March 1974. She During her time at university, she also spent is the granddaughter of migrants. Her paternal a year studying in Milan (Italy) on an Erasmus grandparents were shepherds in Güel (Osca). scholarship. Her maternal grandparents came from Almazán, a village in Sòria. All four came to Barcelona in Like many others of her generation, she suffered search of a better future. from a lack of opportunities and job insecurity. She had various jobs, which she combined with Her childhood and part of her teenage social activism and defending human rights years were spent in the neighbourhood of El and the right to housing. She now continues to Guinardó, where she grew up with her three defend these values in her position as Mayor. sisters. However, she has lived in many different neighbourhoods over the course of her life, She participated in the DESC Observatory, including El Congrés, El Gòtic, La Ribera, and La a platform of organisations and individuals Barceloneta. She studied at the Escola Àngels dedicated to the study and defence of Garriga and the Acadèmia Febrer. economic, social and cultural rights, first as a cooperation expert and later as the head of the She studied Philosophy at the University of Right to Housing and the City Department. Barcelona (UB). At university, together with many of her classmates she founded the Philosophy Assembly. They carried out sit-ins and strikes “She won the municipal elections in 2015. On 15 June 2019 she was re-elected mayor of Barcelona.” In 2009 she helped found the Platform for At Barcelona City Council, she is working to People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), which build a global city, and above all to address quickly spread throughout Spain. Since the climate emergency and current social its creation, it has prevented more than challenges. This means prioritising public fifty thousand evictions. She was its main policies that focus on the fight against inequality, spokeswoman until 2014. housing, sustainability, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, fomenting a dynamic As spokesperson for the PAH she appeared and redistributive economic model, feminism, before the Economic Commission of the Spanish the defence of housing rights, and fostering Congress of Deputies during proceedings for a citizen participation. reform of mortgage legislation. Among other measures, on taking up her In 2014, together with people involved in the position she created mechanisms for eviction residents’ movement and movements in defence mediation and support, such as the Anti- of public health and education plus others Residential Exclusion Unit (currently known as from academia, she promoted the Guanyem the Barcelona Anti- Evictions Unit) and the Loss Barcelona (Let’s win Barcelona) project to run in of Housing Intervention Service (SIPHO), through the local election. As the main candidate for the which the city council provides real support for election coalition Barcelona en Comú, she won city residents. the 2015 election. She became the first female mayor in the history of the city. On 15 June 2019 she was re-elected mayor of Barcelona. “To establish closer links between With the idea of making the city administration more transparent and democratic, she has the Mayor’s Office and the citizens promoted transparency and anti-corruption she has promoted the Meetings measures by setting up the Office for Transparency and Good Practice (OTBP) and the with the Mayor and the Mayor’s Ethics Mailbox. Office goes Local.” To fight inequality among the city’s neighbourhoods, she has launched the Neighbourhoods Plan, which allocates resources Feminism and support for diversity together to the more underprivileged districts, following with solidarity have also been at the heart in the footsteps of the Neighbourhoods Act of municipal policies with the creation of a that Pasqual Maragall implemented throughout Councillor’s Office for Feminisms and LGBTI, Catalonia in 2004. the inauguration of the LGBTI Centre, a meeting point and a space for reflecting on and giving Other noteworthy measures include the Special visibility to sexual and gender diversity, and the Tourist Accommodation Plan (PEUAT) and the launch of the Barcelona Refuge City Plan. launch of Barcelona Energia, the first city-owned energy company, which serves all of the city’s All these measures have consolidated infrastructure and aims to compete with the Barcelona’s position as an international leading electricity supply companies. benchmark for social rights and global justice. With the aim of not losing touch with the city residents’ real problems, she has launched two community programmes: Meetings with the Mayor and the Mayor’s Office in the Districts. The policies implemented by her government “She is currently the United have received a range of awards and acknowledgements. Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) special envoy for Some of the most noteworthy of these include the Hotels Salut project, being a finalist in the relations between cities and City Nation Place Awards and winner of the Responsible Tourism Awards (2020), multiple the United Nations.” awards from the United Nations for Barcelona Activa for actions to tackle the effects of COVID-19 (2020), the 2019 Infoparticipa Seal for information transparency (2020); the European mayors’ summit on the refugee crisis (Vatican, Responsible Housing Award for housing policies 2016), the UN Summit on Housing and Sustainable that combat gentrification (2019), and a World Development (Quito, 2016) and the High-Level Responsible Tourism Award that recognises the Forum on the United Nations’ Sustainable city’s tourism management (2018). Development Goals (New York, 2018). In a context in which it is necessary to rethink As well as being Mayor and President of the globalisation while prioritising individual well- Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), she is also being, the Mayor has championed these actions the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) by participating in various international forums, special envoy for relations between cities and the such as the Climate Summit for Local Leaders United Nations. (Paris, 2015), the high-level meeting on the integration of migrants organised by the European She lives in the same rented flat she lived in Commission (Brussels, 2016), the European before becoming mayor, on the border between Camp d’en Grassot and Sagrada Família. She lives with her partner Adrià and her two children, Luca Telegram: @AdaColau and Gael. Instagram: @adacolau Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ada.colau/ ÚltiLatest update: 26/04/2021.