Barcelona 2026: architecture as an engine of global change

Barcelona is preparing for an event that will fill the city with new ideas and debates about how we live and, above all, how we could live better. The countdown to the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 has begun, and the Catalan capital is already warming up. Professionals from the sector, researchers and students from all over the world will meet here to exchange visions, projects and concerns. The congress aims to be much more than a simple meeting point between architects: it aspires to become a space to question everything we understand by city, public space or sustainability.

All of this is articulated under the motto Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition , a proposal that invites us to rethink architecture from a place of constant change. The curatorial team summed it up yesterday, April 14, during the official presentation of the congress at the COAC in Barcelona, with these words: “Becoming refers to a process of change, to the ‘becoming’ that fosters the appropriation and transformation of our inhabited environments —both human and more-than-human, individual and collective—, investigating the potential of time as a design tool.” In other words: you need to understand the context before designing anything and assume that nothing is static.

Between 28 June and 2 July 2026, Barcelona will become an open laboratory where material, political and ecological issues will be discussed. In terms of settings, the historic Tres Xemeneies in Sant Adrià de Besòs and the Disseny Hub (DHub) will be the focal points, but there will be activities scattered throughout Barcelona, from Moll de la Marina to Montjuïc and the Sagrada Família.

© Ikumaru

One of the strong points is the desire to mix profiles and disciplines, the congress is not only aimed at architects. The open call, active since March 31, encourages the presentation of all kinds of projects - design, photography, cinema or art - that explore the six thematic axes of Becoming: from Becoming More-than-Human , which poses how we live together with other species and ecological systems, to Becoming Attuned , which investigates the poetics of the everyday. Including Becoming Embodied , which reflects on matter and construction; Becoming Interdependent , which analyzes space as a catalyst for social relationships; Becoming Hyper-Conscious , which focuses on global-local awareness; and Becoming Circular , which advocates for an architecture based on reuse and sustainability. In addition, there will be two more calls aimed at students, with an international workshop and a competition that will mobilize more than 150 young people.

Some 200 expert voices will be part of the program of talks, debates and exhibitions. Some will be selected by the scientific committee and the curatorial team, and others will emerge from this Call for Participants. 12 research projects through design will also be promoted —a format called Research by Design— which will include names such as Atelier Bow-Wow, Colectivo C733, Forensic Architecture or Eva Franch's studio with TAKK. The aim is not only to talk about projects, but to generate new ones by taking advantage of the synergies that will be born during those days.

A dalt (esq. a dta.) Filo Cañete Carrillo, Laia Bonet, Sílvia Paneque, Guim Costa Calsamiglia, Iñaqui Carnicero, Marta Vall-llossera, Teresa Táboas. Abaix (esq. a dta) Equip curatorial “Becoming”: María Giramé, Pau Sarquella, Tomeu Ramis, Carmen Torres, Pau Bajet i Mariona Benedito. © Anna Mas

According to Laia Bonet , first deputy mayor of Barcelona, “we want the whole year 2026 to be a great celebration that reaches every neighborhood, every corner, every resident; and that architecture transcends its own borders as a discipline.” A declaration of intent that reinforces the open and citizen-oriented nature of the congress. For Guim Costa , dean of the COAC and director of the Congress, the event is an opportunity to turn Barcelona “into a stage to address the issues that most concern us architects, to debate new trends and to share good practices.”

Barcelona will be the first city to repeat as host of the UIA World Congress of Architects, after its celebration in 1996. This new edition aims to go beyond the traditional format: to be less formal and more involved with the city that hosts it, making the architectural debate a collective and close experience.