Manresa

The city of Manresa, with a population of 78.269 inhabitants (2020) and a surface area of 41,48 sq km, is located in the heart of Catalonia, nearby Barcelona. At the crossroads of two rivers and three strategic communication axes in Catalonia, Manresa has a remarkable industrial and commercial tradition. It is the core city of a metro area of 130.000 inhabitants, the capital of Bages County, and the main city of Central Catalonia (over 300.000 people).

Manresa has a millenary history, which has left an important medieval and Baroque heritage, combined with modernist and industrial legacy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Manresa is also famous for Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit Company, who lived and wrote the famous Spiritual Exercises in the city. In 2022, we commemorate the 500 years of this ephemerid.

It is a hilly and dense city, with a vibrant cultural life and a wide range of sport facilities, surrounded by an attractive green belt which combines forest and farmland, including vineyards. It is a privileged area for agriculture, leisure, tourism, biodiversity and environmental awareness.

The city center offers a wide variety of retail chains and local shops, which coexists with new commercial areas in the surroundings, where industrial areas are also located. As a capital of the Bages county and main city of Central Catalonia region, Manresa is a great provider of services in fields such as health, education, public administration, research and advanced services. Thus, there are three university centers and one research center, which is part of the Catalan research center Eurecat, and collaborates with the municipality in several projects.

With these assets, Manresa was able to progressively ride out the effects of the 2008 economic crash. The recovery of 2014-2019 came to a halt because of the covid-19 crisis.

Nowadays, the municipality is pursuing a range of strategic initiatives to improve its resilience, open up new routes to prosperity, and enhance the quality of life of its population, all this under the principles of leaving no one behind and protecting the environment.

Starting from the Social and Economic Reconstruction Plan for Manresa and establishing the Local Agenda 2030 in a participative way, the city council aims to align its strategy and policies with the global Sustainable Development Goals in order to go far beyond the urgent answer to the sanitary, social and economic emergency caused by the pandemic. The mission is to achieve a deep and real transformation, to become a green, just, productive and resilient city.