The CCCB will be the venue for most of the activities of this Conference, which upholds the public market model and will discuss strategies for revitalising it and ensuring that it remains viable.

The 9th International Public Markets Conference, an initiative of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) in partnership with the Institut Municipal de Mercats de Barcelona (IMMB – Barcelona Municipal Markets Institute) and UN HABITAT, is to be held in Barcelona. The Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) – an institution which is active in promoting reflection and debate about public space through the European Prize for Urban Public Space and the website publicspace.org – will host most of the Conference activities.

In these three days, operators, technical specialists and experts from around the world will discuss present-day strategies for revitalising public markets, a still-valid model which, unlike large shopping malls, fosters the general well-being of the city. The Conference will present new trends, around the world in ways of conceiving of and using public markets, both permanent and temporary.

It will do so by means of a programme which alternates visits to several Barcelona markets with lectures and debates embracing different views and perspectives. The ultimate aim of the Conference is to uphold the idea of the “Market City”, of which Barcelona is an example, and to encourage the contributions of this model to sustainable food systems, to the links between rural and urban worlds, and to the vitality of neighbourhoods.

The European Prize for Urban Public Space will have a part in the discussion and debate with a lecture by its director, Judit Carrera, and a video titled “La plaça coberta” (The Covered Square), which sustains, by means of examples of entries presented over the eight awards of the Prize, that the market is a public space which benefits the city:

• Photovoltaic roof (Figueres, Spain, 2011)
• Beşiktaş fish market (Istanbul, Turkey, 2010)
• Trznica market (Celje, Slovenia, 2010)
• «Stadshal» (Gent, Belgium, 2012)
• Theater square (Antwerpen, Belgium, 2009)
• Tirso de Molina flower matket (Madrid, Spain, 2006)
• «Metropol Parasol» (Sevilla, Spain, 2011)
• "Lanternen" (Sandnes, Norway, 2008)
• "La Lira" theatre (Ripoll, Spain, 2012)
• The Can Mulà multipurpose centre (Mollet del Vallès, Spain, 2000)
• "Els Encants" new market (Barcelona, Spain, 2013)

Translations: Julie Wark.