Bilbao Balioen Hiria (BBH) - Bilbao City of Values

1. Bilbao and culture

With around 350,000 inhabitants, and more than one million in its metropolitan area, Bilbao is the most populated and important city in Euskadi (Basque Country). It is known worldwide for the central role that culture has played in its urban regeneration. At the end of the last century, the city underwent a complete transformation, the flagship of which was the opening of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997, transforming it from an industrial city into a cultural, tourist and innovation reference point. Despite its architectural and urban revitalisation, Bilbao still faces social and economic challenges, related to equality, access to employment and social inclusion. Moreover, cultural diversity and intercultural coexistence are important aspects to address in a city that has experienced an increase of migrant population in recent years.

The initiative BBH (Bilbao Balioen Hiria for its initials in Basque, “Bilbao City of Values”) is part of the Mandate Plans 2019-2023 and 2023-2027, as a key action in the line “Youth, Development of Values, Education and Training”. It is an intrinsic part of the Citizenship and Diversity Plan 2017-2019, the Bilbao Intercultural City Plan 2020-2023 and the Strategic Plan for Culture 2023-2033, whose guiding principles are the democratisation of access to culture, the commitment to culture as a factor of social and territorial cohesion and the promotion of the local cultural fabric, among others. Within this framework, BBH arose as an initiative of the City Council in response to the challenge of developing Bilbao from a common framework, made up of values identified, defined, shared and promoted by the community.

BBH arose in response to the challenge of developing Bilbao from a common framework, made up of values identified, defined, shared and promoted by the community.

2. Project goals and implementation

2.1. Main goal and specific objectives

The overall objective of the BBH project is to build and foster a framework of shared values that will drive the development of the city and enhance the well-being and quality of life of its inhabitants. The main specific objectives of BBH are threefold:

1. Establishing a common framework of cultural values in the city to guide its sustainable development and promote social inclusion and cultural diversity.
2. Facilitating equal access to culture and to promote citizens’ participation in cultural activities.
3. Fostering collaboration between institutions, organisations and the community to strengthen the local cultural fabric and promote cultural rights and, as a whole, human rights.

2.2. Development of the project

This is a participatory and collaborative project, in which common elements of identity become channels for citizen cohesion. Given its general nature, BBH’s target population is the citizens of Bilbao as a whole, of all ages and origins, especially disadvantaged communities at risk of social exclusion and the local cultural sector, but also individuals and entities adhering to the Charter of Values.

The BBH project has been developed in four phases so far:

1. Pre-analyses and launch of the project to identify shared values among citizens through the European Values Survey, resulting in a decalogue of values that were subsequently developed in a Vademecum that specified their definition and scope.
2. Development and approval of the Charter of Values. The decalogue and the Vademecum were socialised through various presentation sessions and the holding of seven Values Forums where people from different areas (institutional, business and associative) participated and completed the decalogue with another seven values that they considered relevant. As a culmination of this phase, the Bilbao City Council approved the Bilbao Charter of Values. The Charter sets out the 17 values that define the city and guide specific actions for its development.
3. Definition of the Values Development Plan, approved and implemented to facilitate the progress, control and monitoring of the Charter, achieving its full integration into the daily reality of the city.

The Plan is a dynamic and flexible tool that integrates several strategic axes that in turn have been operationalised in a Roadmap 2019-2023, including in the fourth phase:

• BBH Awards. Rewarding and recognising the work of entities that promote the content of the Charter, developing initiatives that put into practice some of its values.
• BBH City Council. Implementation of municipal initiatives to work on values in the city with programmes in municipal leisure spaces for children and adolescents and in the formal educational sphere. Work is also being done to make the values visible in different events that take place in the city (patron saint festivals, sporting events, Christmas programme, etc.) and the mainstreaming of the values in different municipal strategic plans.
• BBH Charter. The aim of this axis is to promote, disseminate and socialise the Charter of Values, for example through travelling photographic exhibitions or the translation of the Charter into the main languages present in the city.

Bilbao is currently defining the strategies for the coming years (2024 onwards).

With regard to the associated entities, consensus has been sought between public institutions, political parties, trade unions, sports clubs, social organisations, cultural associations and agents, the business sector, commerce, hotels and restaurants, educational centres, senior citizens’ groups, the media, neighbourhood associations, the LGTBIQ movement, professional associations, immigrant groups, international development cooperation organisations, human rights and peace organisations, the environmental movement, representatives of people with different functional capacities, the feminist movement, groups working in favour of the Basque language, youth organisations and groups, and citizens in general. In recent years, Bilbao has also been partnering with other local governments, and in 2021 and within UCLG’s programme of amplification of scalable local projects with global impact, Bilbao launched the Local4Action Hub Bilbao City of Values.

The plan is a dynamic and flexible tool that integrates several strategic axes that in turn have been operationalised in a roadmap 2019-2023, including the BBH Awards, BBH City Council and the BBH Charter.

3. Impacts

3.1. Direct impacts

As a result of the actions carried out, Bilbao is now closer to achieving the goals expressed in the Charter of Values: to guarantee, protect and develop the Human Rights of all people living in Bilbao and to promote their quality of life, wellbeing and happiness.

It is important to highlight i) The creation of a common space for analysis, dialogue and collaboration between institutions, companies, media, political groups and civil society, which can serve as a platform for future actions; ii) The work of numerous citizens’ organisations that promote access to culture, which would otherwise have gone unnoticed; iii) The facilitation of citizen participation in cultural expressions and equal access to culture, thus addressing social issues and promoting conflict resolution. 

3.2. Evaluation

Work has begun on designing an evaluation system that seeks to measure the impact of the project to measure the following dimensions:

1. Dissemination.
2. Knowledge of the project.
3. Follow-up.
4. Level of participation and attendance.
5. Adherence to the Charter of Values.
6. Involvement in the project.
7. Participants’ satisfaction.

3.3. Key factors 

The key factors behind BBH’s success have been i) Citizen participation and the collaboration of various sectors of Bilbao’s society, allowing the construction of a common framework of values and the implementation of initiatives that respond to the needs and aspirations of the community; ii) The integration of cultural values and synergizing with sustainability, solidarity and equity, thus promoting social and territorial cohesion; iii) The integration of BBH in the municipal strategic plans and the allocation of continuous financial resources which guaranteed its continuity and sustainability over time, ensuring its effectiveness in the promotion of cultural values and the sustainable development of the city.

BBH has shown that culture and values, values and culture, are two sides of the same coin.

3.4. Continuity

The BBH project is destined to increasingly permeate the municipal structure as a whole. Bilbao City Council has integrated BBH into its long-term strategic plans, ensuring its continuity by incorporating the Charter and the Values Development Plan into the municipal mandate and strategic plans. 

Budgetary resources have been allocated for the implementation and promotion of BBH, ensuring its financial sustainability through inclusion in municipal financing plans.

Other local governments may consider adopting a charter of values, establishing mechanisms for citizen participation, allocating financial resources and integrating the project into municipal strategic plans to effectively replicate the BBH model in their territories.

4. More information

Bilbao was selected as a Special Mention for the sixth edition of the UCLG – Mexico City – Culture 21 International Award (November 2023 – March 2024). The jury for the award drew up its final report in June 2024, and requested that the Committee on Culture also promoted this project as one of the good practices to be implemented through Agenda 21 for culture.

This article was written by Iñaki Lopez de Aguileta. Director for Culture, Bilbao City Council, Bizkaia, Basque Country, Spain.

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