The Regional Planning Strategy being pursued by the Department of Urban Planning and the Environment of the Basque Government is the bid of the Basque society in favour of a regional model for the future that will bring us closer towards environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness and social cohesion. With this objective in mind, a set of normative planning instruments there were defined are now being implemented to construct, step by step, the future we aspire to.

As both as a complement and an extension of the Regional Planning Strategy, the Basque Country has developed the concept of ¨Euskal Hiria¨, the Basque Global City, which defines a project for the future based on the competitive advantages of the Basque territory. This concept is based on a series of regional objectives, which are currently shared by most European countries, namely: polycentrism, identity and complementarity among the different settlements that make up the city-region.

The increasingly important phenomenon that is playing a leading role in many of the advanced territories of the world is the consolidation of the "city-region" as a model for spatial articulation. The dissolution of traditional borders between cities and territories create new spaces that have greater complexity and richness.

Our country possesses a set of conditions that positions it strategically within the competitive international context among the most innovative city-regions. In a relatively small territory, we possess a well-articulated urban network that is governed by three attractive and dynamic cities with complementary profiles. By understanding that our strength stems from solidarity and territorial cohesion, we must work on those aspects that strengthen the complementarities between Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

One of the most relevant urban phenomena that we have been experiencing in the last decades at the international level is the emergence of the city-region as a complex and interrelated reality. This phenomenon brings about new challenges and opportunities for the improvement of quality of life issues (residence, leisure, culture, education, and relations with nature) and development of economic activities and infrastructure.

Many city-regions on the international scene, especially those which have grown very rapidly, have problems of diffused and disorderly urbanisation, difficulties articulating efficient public transportation systems, imbalances in the relative location of residence and employment, the systematic occupation of agricultural and natural areas, different zones of the urban region that lack of identity, difficulties in the government of the territory, administrative fragmentation, etc.

The Basque Country is an authentic city-region within the international context, with a population of slightly over 2 million inhabitants and a density of 300 inhabitants per square kilometre. The territorial scale of the Basque Autonomous Region is similar to that of other city-regions in the world. By way of example, the territory of the city-region of Miami is larger than that of the Basque Country, and the city-region of Sydney has a population of four million inhabitants and a surface area similar to that of the Basque Country.

We increasingly find people who live in San Sebastián and work in Vitoria, business firms located in Vitoria that use the port of Bilbao, professors living in Bilbao who teach at San Sebastián campuses, tourists who visit the Guggenheim Museum and then travel to see Chillida Leku or Artium, and enterprises located on the Alava Plain that use consultant services located in Bilbao. In a word, with increasing intensity, a single labour market is being created in Euskal Hiria, and the daily space for day-to-day living is increasingly inter-linked. The improvement of regional infrastructure allows the inhabitants throughout the region to enjoy greater options for where to live, work, and relax.

Within the new economy, to operate on a global scale requires an extraordinary level of complexity. As Saskia Sassen has made manifest in her research, in order for business firms to operate at a global scale, they need the support of a very specialised set of services. This set of specialised services (intellectual capital, consultancy services, legal auditing, marketing, new technologies, transportation, financial services, etc.) can only be located in urban nodes of a certain size, that is to say in cities and territories possessing a certain critical mass. The availability of a set of specialised services catering to enterprise is a key condition enabling cities to attract competitive and innovative business firms that operate at a global scale.

The Basque Country must procure the "critical mass" that is needed to successfully face the challenge of the new economy. In order to achieve this aim, it is essential to give coherence to the synergies derived from a coherent articulation of the entire territory.

The idea of Euskal Hiria, or Euskadi Global City, responds to the opportunity of seeking interrelations and complementarities among the Basque capitals, and the rest of the various- sized settlements that make up the urban system of the Basque Country. The key is to maintain the identity of each of our cities, villages and hamlets and to acquire the advantages derived from a coherent, balanced and competitive city-region. It is important to emphasise the strategic value of greater economic and functional integration among the three Basque capitals, and also with the greater "Hinge Point" that also includes Pamplona, Logroño, Santander and Bayonne. It is crucial to work towards the construction of complementary urban profiles based on the identity and each of the cities´ elements of excellence that make up this singular polycentric system of capitals.

None of the cities of the Basque urban system, operating on their own, would be able to play a relevant role in the new international scene of global cities. None of the Basque capitals, on their own, would possess the critical mass that is needed to offer the set of specialised services, infrastructure, equipment facilities and options that are offered in cities that are successfully operating at the international level. Nonetheless, the structure of the Basque territory has some unique singularities and presents competitive advantages within the referential framework of today’s city-regions.

In the following paragraphs, we explain, briefly, the components of excellence and the singularities of the Basque Country as a city-region.

1- A Hinge Point in the New Europe

As we have pointed out, Euskal Hiria possesses an outstanding macro-territorial location at the intersection of the north-south Paris-Madrid corridor and of two transversal corridors, the Ebro Axis and the Cantabrian coast. It will play a leading role in the Atlantic Arc, and serve as an important integration threshold between the Atlantic Arc and the so-called North of the South, which are two great Euro-regions with a clear projection towards the future. Furthermore, it is located at the centre of gravity of an important European node of centrality that integrates regions such as Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarra and the area of Bayonne. Throughout the world, territories that constitute functional "Hinge Points" between regions of different characteristics and levels of development are those with the greatest transformation potential. Within this context, Euskal Hiria occupies a privileged position as a hinge point in the European territory.

2- The Polycentric System of Basque Capitals

In Euskadi, the Regional Planning Strategy defines a single project for the city-region, which identifies differentiated vocations and functions for the diverse cities. This project is centred on the region’s potential for co-operation and complementarity, rather than near-sighted competition among the different cities.

The Basque Country has three important capital cities that are Metropolitan Bilbao, the Urban Area of Donostia-San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz, which are distributed in an exemplary manner throughout the territory; close to each other but with differentiated profiles and personalities. This constitutes an important competitive advantage when compared to more monocentric, primate city-regions that gravitate around only one central city, beyond which there is a succession of diffused and undifferentiated urbanised settlements that lack personality.

3- The Network of Medium-sized Cities

The Basque Country has an attractive network of medium-sized cities that constitutes one of the keys for integrating the urban and rural milieus. These are charismatic cities which play a leadership role in their immediate surroundings by offering services and functions that smaller-sized small regional settlements require.

These are important urban centres both for the overall territorial balance of the Basque Country, and for social balance of the region, given the strong sentiment of belonging that the cities´ inhabitants feel for each of them. The centres also help to balance the places of residence and work within the overall context of Euskal Hiria. A challenge for the future will be to improve the urban quality some of these medium-sized cities, and to fortify their economic functions at this intermediate and exemplary echelon of the Basque system of cities.

4- The Rural Settlements and the Historical Centres of Euskal Hiria

Euskal Hiria has a magnificent network of rural settlements, which have maintained their identity, structure and image, and are essential for the survival of our traditions and customs. The singularity of these settlements is rooted in the fact that they are located near the medium-sized cities and the polycentric system of Basque capitals. They are settlements located in natural surroundings that offer a wide range of options for housing, employment, leisure, culture, and services.

These rural settlements constitute one of the main assets of the Basque city-region. With the improvement of road infrastructure, public transport systems and telecommunications, these rural settlements will provide even greater residential and employment opportunities.

5- Network of Natural Zones and Green Mesh of the Territory

Perhaps one of the most valuable and unique elements of the Basque territorial structure is the network of natural zones, which are very much linked to the urban system. These zones help to maintain the biodiversity, the quality of the landscape, and the leisure options for the Basque population. The scale of the Basque territory and its high population density confer strategic value to these natural zones, which are inter-connected through a network of ecological channels and corridors that increase the overall attractiveness of the territory.