Vitoria-Gasteiz

Vitoria-Gasteiz is located in northern Spain and is the administrative capital of the Basque Country. It represents the centre of the province of Alava, not only because of its central geographical position, but also because of its demographic weight (76% of total population of the province) and the fact that it is the focal point for most of its industrial and service activities.The municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz is made up of the city and 64 small rural population centres. Although the presence of industry is very important and a continuous feature of the city‘s economic life, the services sector is growing steadily in importance.A careful policy of urban development has helped to maintain a balance between the natural environment and the needs of a modern city. The city has enjoyed widespread recognition over the years for its urban development strategy, inherited from a long planning tradition, giving rise to a reasonably compact and orderly city, with good accessibility to basic services, a large number of open areas.