Esplugues de Llobregat

Esplugues is placed in the heart of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, next to Barcelona City. The city, with 46,000 inhabitants and 4,6 km2 area, is well known for its great ceramic tradition, its big parks and green areas, and a clear commitment to innovation.

It is said that Esplugues has most of the advantages of a big city and few of the disadvantages. You can reach the center of Barcelona and the airport in 15 minutes, thanks to excellent network communication, and you can find a business environment and a rich cultural offering. In contrast, the city offers big parks (28,07m2 of green areas form every 1,000 inhabitants), some streets of a bucolic atmosphere around the almost millenary Santa Magdalena church.

Esplugues is an important reference for talent. The SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona, one of the biggest in Europe, provides medical assistance to 400 children, and important companies have their headquarters in our city and take advantage of our business environment.

Concurrently, the Council is fostering innovation among projects and programs with the clear aim to improve the daily life of citizens and to increase their opportunities. The actions to bring technology and science to citizens, especially to girls and women, are a good example. In the same sense, we find the Pact for economic reactivation and the creation of quality employment, a set of measures agreed with all of the economic and social players in the city.

In this same regard, being part of the Playful Paradigm project, Esplugues is using the game as a tool to face challenges of aging, climate change, and social exclusion. The action of playing is instinctive, universal and generously fruitful. Exchanging with other cities of the URBACT network on the best practices will swell our chances to solve problems and to get the city model we want.