Thinking about intermediate and small cities with a global scope from A Coruña

Inspired by Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and Goal 17 (Partnerships to achieve the goals) of the 2030 Agenda, this note reflects on how Intermediate and small cities have their own characteristics and capacities to fulfill a global role in a global context in which cities assume a relevant role in the various global agendas (climate change, development, among others).To reflect on this, here we highlight how networking and collaboration between economic and cultural agents contribute to the external projection and territorial appeal of a city like A Coruña.

Novembro 9, 2022

Liñas de investigación Paradiplomacy

Apartados xeográficos Foreign action of Galicia

Palabras chave paradiplomacy internacional Paradiplomacia Galicia egaex

Idiomas Galego

Alejo, Antonio

É facilitador do Consello de Investigación do IGADI e parte do Consello de Redacción da revista do IGADI, Tempo Exterior. Colaborador do Grupo de Investigación Sociedades en Movimiento da Universidade da Coruña e investigador asociado do Instituto Galego de Análise…

With similar stories to other small or Intermediate cities with European multinationals such as Ikea (Älmhut) or Lego (Billund), INDITEX significantly impacts the cities where they are located. In addition to its already recognized economic impact on the city, currently, INDITEX contributes to the projection of A Coruña as a worldwide reference in fashion. This can be seen, among other actions, with the city’s museums and its efforts to hold fashion-related exhibitions.

Between 2021 and 2022, after the COVID ordeal, the city of A Coruña held three fashion shows. The Barrie de la Maza Foundation, in collaboration with the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, organized the Textiles de Artistas exhibition to explore the connection between design, fashion, and textiles. The Luís Seoane Foundation presented the exhibition 40añosdeEstiloVerino to review the history of the Roberto Verino brand and the designer himself, who is from Ourense. The City Council of A Coruña, with the Peter Lindbergh Foundation and the port of A Coruña organized the exhibition Untold Stories, which presented a retrospective of one of the world’s most renowned fashion photographers.

These virtual and collaborative experiences in A Coruña show in practice that the external action governance of a global city requires institutionalized mechanisms and a broad and inclusive participation of its citizens. A Coruña now has a Basis for External Action document (BAEX A Coruña), that can facilitate the organization of decision-making policy process in the city with an inclusive and plural perspective for its external projection. The collaboration between relevant agents of the city is just one example of the multiple possibilities that can be found between neighborhoods and sectors of the city to give meaning to a global A Coruña for the 21st century. A Coruña as an intermediate European city has a set of specificities that make it globally attractive, which translated into adequate collaborative urban planning policies, added,A Coruña can turn its global role into benefits for the economic and social life of the city and its inhabitants.

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Do you know the global city map of A Coruña?